


Love’s even more wild when you’re angry

by HopeIsEverything94



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: AU!Royalty, Arranged Marriage, Harry is hopelessly in love, Louis really 'hates' Harry, M/M, Niall is having fun being Irish, Prince fic, Some Fluff, ZIAM IS MARRIED, from now on, sweet!Harry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-04-28
Updated: 2013-09-20
Packaged: 2017-12-09 19:42:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 23,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/777287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HopeIsEverything94/pseuds/HopeIsEverything94
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prince Louis doesn't understand how this happened. He wasn't planning on getting married so soon. He wanted to be single for some more years before settling down. But apparently that wasn't his decision to make because now he finds himself settled down and married to Prince Harry. Prince Harry of all people. His life is over. Or isn't it?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Wedding

**Author's Note:**

> So this is another chaptered fic I started. I really wanted to write something like this for a while no. So here it is. I hope you guys enjoy it. I'm not sure when I'll update again, but you'll see it appear sooner or later. Leave me your opinions on here or on my tumblr: larryship-co-captain.tumblr.com

“This is absolute nonsense. What am I even doing here? I should have just said no.”

“You and I both know that if that was an option neither of us would be here.”

“I’m the prince of Doncaster for god’s sake. I should be able to choose who I’m marrying.”

“Well apparently you’re not.”

“It would seem so, because if I could I would have definitely not chosen a blasphemy as yourself. God, this is the official end of my life. What did I do to deserve this? I’m a good person.”

Louis leans his head back against the throne he’s sitting on and closes his eyes. When he hears the boy next to him speak in an indignant tone:  
“Hey, I’m not a blasphemy. And you’re one to talk. Aren’t you the prince everyone talks about who can’t keep it in his pants.”

“Those are rumours.”

“Whatever, I’m going to talk to some people and actually be socially involved.”

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Louis hears him stand up and opens his eyes when he’s sure he is no longer in his personal space. How the hell did he end up here? One day he’s toasting to Zayn and Liam at their wedding and the next day he’s on his own wedding and he’s marrying the one person he hates more than socks. Prince Harry Edward Styles of Cheshire. The kingdom next to his own. He knows the marriage was only convenient to their parents to form an even bigger and wealthier kingdom. But for crying out loud was this really the only way to do that? They could have just set up a treaty. No marriage required. But of course the queen, his mom, had to do it this way because ‘ you’re 21 already Louis’ and ‘nobody is going to want to marry and old lad like yourself’ and ‘Harry is a nice boy, you’ll be fine’. 

 

He looks around the grand ballroom and sees all the people of both kingdoms mingle and chat happily. At least now there won’t be a constant fear of a war breaking out between the two kingdoms. He looks to the few people actually doing some dancing and sees Zayn and Liam slowly dancing. They’re chest to chest and are whispering to each other.. Those two are the only people he knows that actually married willingly. All of his other friends only tolerate their spouses and unfortunately for him he knows he’ll be like them. Speaking of his spouse, where the hell has he vanished to. He can’t just disappear. He scans the room and then sees that mop of curly hair that is going to ruin his life. 

“Stupid Harry. With his stupid curls.” He mutters to himself while still staring at Harry who is talking to some other guy Louis can’t quite see cause his back is to him. He doesn’t even know why he hates Harry so much. It was even before this arrangement was made. He know they used to be friends when they were about 5 years old. But somehow when Louis turned 15 he somewhat grew apart from Harry. Perhaps he hates Harry so much because he never actually went to the trouble to keep in touch with Louis. No, surely that can’t be it. That would require Louis to have actually cared about Harry and he absolutely does not. 

Now everything Harry does annoys him. The way he talks oh so slowly. The way he rearranges his hair when it doesn’t sit well. The way his voice sounds when he sings a song. The way his lips look after he has bitten on them. In summary he just about hates everything that has to do with Harry.  
He snaps out of his hate induced daze and focusses back on Harry. He is just about to look away when Harry barks out a loud laugh and Louis’ heart jumps when he notices the dimples in Harry’s cheeks. Oh, did he mention that he hated those dimples too. He probably hates those the most. And let’s get one thing straight. His heart jumped because of the amount of hatred he feels towards Harry and his stupid dimples. Harry lifts his hand to cover up his loud laughter and Louis thinks he hates his hands even more than those dimples. Could he please lower his hand so he can keep hating those dimples, thank you very much.

“You’re staring.”

Louis jumps at the sudden sound and whips his head to the person making the sound. He locks eyes with the blue ones of Harry’s Irish friend. 

“Excuse you? I was certainly not staring.”

The blond boy lets out a loud laugh at that and then nods while saying: “Sure you weren’t. Than what do you call what you were doing?”

“It’s called glaring, Neil.”

The boy rolls his eyes and lets out a soft chuckle. “You were not. And the sooner you admit it the better for you. And the name’s Niall mate.”

“Well, Niall, I don’t know what you’re talking about this whole admitting but I’ll be sure to keep that in mind. Now if you’ll excuse me I have to go talk to some people.” 

He stands up and tries to walk around this Niall person when he steps in front of him and says:  
“All I’m saying is. I know you were friends with Harry at some point and I know this is not the most perfect circumstance but you should really give him a chance. Harry has told me how much you hate him and he honestly doesn’t know why. So just go easy on him and you’ll see that he’s not half as bad as you make him out to be.”

This time it’s Louis’ turn to roll his eyes. He walks around Niall and turn around to say: “We’ll see about that.” And just because he’s a little shit he adds: “Neill.”  
The only respond he gets is a loud bark of laughter from the Irish prince. 

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

“I still don’t understand why you hate him so much though. Me and Zayn talked to him and he’s really funny and sweet.”

“Well if he’s so honest and sweet why don’t you marry him them.”

Liam just heaves out a sigh at Louis’ childish behaviour and figures there’s really nothing he can say to change Louis’ mind. He is quite stubborn.

“You know people say that there’s a fine line between hate and love. I genuinely believe you’re actually in love with him and you’re confusing it with hate.”

“Yeah well people also say that I’ve hooked up with almost every princess around and we all know I’m not really into that kind of royalty.”

“Can I just ask you what it is that you hate about him?”

Louis sits down at the table next to them and points to the seat across from him and says: “You may want to sit down for this.” 

When Liam is seated Louis takes in a deep breath and says: 

“ I hate the way he dresses. With the tight pants and the stupid bracelets and those beanie things, like just do your hair you lazy arse. I hate the way he has his hair in a fringe, he is always brushing it aside and fixing it. Why can’t he just cut it short if it’s that much of a bother, tell me Liam, why? I hate the way he is so nice to everybody even when they’re talking shit to him. No one needs to be nice all the goddamn time, no one. I hate his eyes. They’re so big, way too big for his face it’s like Walter fucking Disney drew them on him and the colour of his eyes. That is not a natural green colour, way too shiny. I hate his lips, way too plump and red to actually belong to a boy. Those lips are not natural. And oh my god those dimples, I hate those dimples so damn much. What good is having dimples for? As if it isn’t enough with his eyes and curls he has to have dimples. And, Liam, he wears socks and you know how I hate those and-. Why are you laughing?”

Liam just lifts his hand, to say to give him a minute cause he needs to let this out. When he finally stops he sees Louis looking at him with raised eyebrows waiting for an answer. 

“Oh, Louis. You poor lad.”

“What?”

“You are so far gone, it’s unbelievable.”

“What on earth are you talking about.”

“Let’s just say I’ll be waiting for the day you come to me and finally admit you’re in love with Harry.”

This time it’s Louis’ turn to laugh at his friend. “Oh please, if that happens I’ll spend a whole day in a dress.”

“I’ll be sure to buy you one in your size when I go to Spain then.”

With that, Liam stands up and says his goodbye and walks up to his husband. 

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Thank God, we don’t have to share a bed. I would not have been able to do that.”

Harry just hums his agreement and grabs a pair of boxers to take with him. The closet stands in the middle of a room and is the only thing the boys actually share along with the bathroom. On opposite sides of the room there are a pair of doors leading to the separate bedrooms of the boys.

“Goodnight, Louis. Sleep well.” Harry says while walking towards his bedroom. Louis turns to look at Harry’s bare back and swallows a few times before saying:  
“We have to be up at 10 tomorrow. Our parents are coming over.”

Harry turns back around in the doorway where he’s standing and flashes Louis a soft smile with his dimples barely showing.  
“Sure thing. See you tomorrow.” 

“Whatever."

With that both boys close their doors and go to their bed. Harry dreams of the beautiful boy that used to be his very best friend and still is in his dreams and Louis. Well, Louis dreams of that not natural colour of green Harry’s eyes are and when he wakes up he will deny that he actually enjoyed his dream.


	2. Six Years

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OMG YOU GUYS..... The first chapter was better received than I thought it would. ITS AMAZING. I still can;t believe it. It really means a lot to me, so thank you. EACH AND EVERYONE OF YOU. I feel like I have to warn you about my updating skills, or well my lack therefor. I just rite whenever I feel like writing, ya'know inspiration and shit. And if you guys have ane special requests for this story or for a personal one-shot. Let me know, whether on here or my tumblr: larryship-co-captain.tumblr.com . So ANYWAYS here it is. Chapter 2! I hope you like it...xx

Damn sun. 

Is the first thing Louis thinks when he opens his eyes. He rubs away the sleep and lies on his back, looking at the ceiling. He wonders what time it is and why no one came up to wake him. Usually his mom never lets him sleep in. Having a job for him almost every day. Then again he does live alone now.  
Well, not completely alone. He lives with his husband now. He has a husband now. Harry is his husband. He feels something in his stomach and decides that it’s because he’s hungry. He slowly gets out of bed and walks towards the bathroom. He just wants to take a shower and go meet up with Zayn or Liam and avoid Harry as much as possible. What he doesn’t expect is opening the door to Harry in nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist. 

“Oh my god…I didn’t…I wasn’t aware…I’m sorry.”

Louis quickly says and then he lifts his hand to cover his eyes. Afraid Harry may feel uncomfortable with him staring. 

“It’s okay.” Harry says with a chuckle. “I don’t mind. I mean we are married now, shouldn’t this be normal.”

“Don’t remind me.” 

Louis says while lowering his hands and giving himself the full view of Harry’s long pale torso. His eyes go up and down the pale boy’s body and rest on Harry’s abs. He snaps out of it when Harry talks: “Does it really bother you that much that you’re married to me?”

“I’m just bothered by the fact that I am married in the first place. I wasn’t planning on getting married for at least 4 years.”

“Aren’t you, like 21 years old?” Harry says with raised eyebrows.

“Yes. So what’s your point?”

“Nothing, it’s just that usually people get married once they turn 19. So when I heard that I was going to marry you I was shocked that you were single to begin with.”  
“How old are you then?”

“I’m 18 years, but I’m almost 19.”

“That’s great.”

Louis knows he’s being snappy, but he doesn’t feel bad. Especially not when he sees the small smile Harry has been wearing turn into a frown. He stumbles away from the sink and mutters: “Right. Well, I guess I should let you get to it.”

“If it’s not too much trouble.”

Harry closes the door behind him and leaves Louis standing alone in the bathroom feeling like he just scolded a five year old. 

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

On his way to the dining room Louis notices that the palace is completely empty. There are no maids running around, no butlers asking if there’s something he needs. It’s completely deserted. So that’s why, when he walks into the room he finds the table all set up and smells something like pancakes, he walks to the kitchen. What he sees surprises him more than the half-naked Harry he saw in the shower. This time it’s a baking Harry. 

“Harry?”

The boy with the curls turns around and Louis sees he’s wearing an apron. An actual apron, and it’s pink and has ruffles. And Louis doesn’t know whether to laugh or keep staring. He chooses for the latter. 

“Oh hey, I’m just making breakfast.”

“I can see that. Why are you making breakfast?”

“Well, you know it’s tradition to give everyone in the kingdom the day off after a royal wedding and we do have to eat.”

All Louis does is look around in silence as if he’s seeing something for the first time and doesn’t believe it. To be honest he is. A royalty in the kitchen? And one that actually knows what he’s doing?  
Slowly he takes a few steps back and when he gets to the door he quietly closes it behind him and goes to sit at the table. He waits till Harry walks in with a big pile of pancakes which he puts in between both boys. Instead of sitting on the head of the table Harry chooses to sit next to Louis. Which Louis would find strange, except he is still shocked cause of the whole baking thing. 

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Six pancakes and a whole lot of silence later Harry speaks up.

“So..uhm. A friend of mine is coming to visit today. He wants to see, and I quote, ‘the royal crib’. Is that okay?”

Louis blinks a few time and then looks at Harry. “Sure. I was going out to see Zayn and Liam anyways. Who is your friend?”

“I don’t know if you know him, he was at the wedding. His name is Nick and he lives….”

“Wait. You mean Dick Grimshaw?”

“I’m pretty sure his name is Nick, though.”

“You have got to be kidding me.” Louis says. He rolls his eyes than leans back in the chair with a heavy sigh before continuing: “You still hang out with him? He is such a little hater, come on.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that he’s a jerk. And don’t tell me to give him a chance because I did and honestly he was such a snobby little thing the whole time. All snappy and stuff.”

“Well contrary to what you believe Louis, not everyone has to like you.”

Louis snaps his mouth shut at that. It’s not necessarily the words that shock him, it’s the way they’ve been spoken. Cold and emotionless. So un-Harry. He looks up at the boy and sees nothing in the boys green eyes. 

“I didn’t say that.”

“Yeah well, doesn’t mean you weren’t thinking it.”

“How the hell would you know what I was thinking. You don’t know me. We haven’t spoken in years.”

Harry stands up from his seat and walks away, when he’s almost at the door he mutters a: “Six to be exact.” 

Louis doesn’t know if he was meant to hear it, but he is sure as hell going to reply.

“What was that?”

“I said it’s been six years. We haven’t talked in six years.”

And he sounds so defeated and sad that Louis needs to double take to make sure he’s not picturing it, but one look at Harry’s deflated shoulders tells him enough. So with a softer tone he says: “How do you know that?”

Harry turns back around but doesn’t face Louis, instead opting to choose at his shoes: “Well, you don’t really forget it when your best friend abandons you.”

Louis likes to think he is the wittiest person ever. The one person that always has something to say back and make others speechless. But it seems that this time it’s the other way around. He has no idea on what to say to Harry. He can’t argue it, because to be honest he did abandon Harry. He did leave him alone because he himself was confused. How does he tell Harry that though? The proper thing would be to apologize, but he is prince Louis and he never apologies so why should he apologize to Harry? 

“I didn’t kno-.”

He looks up, only to see that he’s the only one left in the room. And when he hears the front doors close he walks back to his bedroom and lies in bed for the rest of the day.


	3. The Truce

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so, you guys are amazing for reading this. Really you guys are. And I'm trying to write as much as I can but I'm a bit preoccupied with an upcoming wedding(not mine) . But here's another chapter and it's a bit of a happy one so, yeah. I hope you enjoy it and like it.xx

“But mom he hasn’t spoken to me in three days, how the hell are we supposed to act as if we couldn’t be happier together?”

“That is not my problem Louis. Just go and try and fix it with him. He is your husband.”

“Not by choice he isn’t. And besides how would I even start to fix it, it’s obvious that he’s avoiding me.”

“You apologize, my dear.”

And with that Louis’ mom leaves Louis alone in his bedroom. It has been three days since The Incident, as Louis likes to call it. He hasn’t spoken to Harry since. Not that he ever had the chance. Harry made sure to avoid Louis at all causes. He’d sneak out of the palace before Louis woke up and he’d come back when Louis was back to sleep. What he did the whole day as a mystery to Louis himself. He has to admit though that he hasn’t really been trying all that hard to contact the younger boy either. Instead he would wake up when the sun was high in the sky and would go to bed before it completely went under. 

Now, though, he has to find Harry and apparently he has to apologize. He wouldn’t even know where to start. Louis doesn’t do apologies. He never apologized to anyone before, maybe only to his family and Liam and Zayn but that’s different. He actually loves those people. He called his mom in the hope that maybe she could talk to Harry, but unfortunately his mom had to be reasonable and tell him that he had to do it on his own and to be quick about it at least before tomorrow.

Oh god, tomorrow. Louis sighs at the thought. Tomorrow he and Harry have their first public appearance as a married couple. They have to go to the polo game and act all happy and as if they truly love each other. How on earth is he supposed to do that when he doesn’t even like the kid. 

He’ll deal with that tomorrow though. Now what he has to do is find him and make sure he goes along with it tomorrow. With a deep sigh Louis stands up from his bed and walks up to the room across his own. He takes a few deep breaths then lifts his fist to knock on the door, but before he has to chance to do that the door opens and Harry is standing there staring at him with wide eyes, as if he’s getting caught. 

“Oh….Uhm hi Lou…is.”

Louis doesn’t know why but when Harry finishes his name he feels something akin to disappointment rush through him. But like the idiot he is, he ignores it and thinks it’s just cause he has to apologies. 

“Hey Harry. Going somewhere?” It comes out a bit harsher than he planned, but heck he has a right to know where this kid is running of to. What he doesn’t expect, is the harsh tone Harry responds in. 

“I don’t really think that’s any of your business.” He walks around Louis and heads for the exit. But Louis is not letting this go so easily so he grabs Harry’s wrist and turns him back around with more strength than necessary. Harry looks absolute furious at this, but before he can object Louis is already talking.

“Like hell it is. I’m your husband I have the right to know where you skip off to, who knows what you’re up to. I have a name to uphold, you know. Can’t have you running around sleeping with half the kingdom, like you’re known for.” 

During his little rant Louis notices Harry getting more furious with every word. The curly haired boy’s face turns more red and then it’s his turn to talk. 

“So now I am your husband, but not by choice right? And don’t you dare accuse me of sleeping with half the kingdom when it’s you who is known to do that. Want to know where I’ve been going to? I’ve been hanging out with my friends who actually want me around unlike you. I don’t understand you Louis. I’ve been trying you know. I haven’t been anything but nice to you and you have treated me like shit since the beginning. I thought that once we’d be alone you would actually give me a chance, give us a chance to become friends again. I don’t know what I did wrong, I don’t know what it was that made you hate me.” 

Harry goes quiet after that and just stares at Louis with wide, glassy green eyes. He shakes his wrist loose from Louis’ grip and then with a softer voice says: 

“The worst part though, is that I’ve tried hating you too for abandoning me. But I couldn’t and even now I still can’t hate you. You know what that makes me?”

Louis just shakes his head, too afraid to speak up because he knows if he does his voice will crack and then he, himself will crack. He looks up at Harry and sees a tear roll down his cheek and he feels his fingers twitch to wipe it away but he stays still. 

“That makes me weak, Louis. And nobody likes a weak person.” 

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The next day Louis finds himself on the side-lines of the polo field looking around for Harry. They did indeed arrive together, but after all the formality and the pictures Harry left his side as quick as he could. They didn’t speak at all, not after Harry’s confession.

Honestly, Louis didn’t know what to say to him. What he does know is that he’s feeling immensely guilty for making Harry feel the way he does. Louis may not know him very well now, but he does know that Harry is not weak. 

He heard about Harry’s dad leaving him and his mother and sister. He’s heard about Harry taking over his dads responsibilities until they found a good replacement. If someone is weak it’s himself, for not being able to apologies to Harry, for not being able to talk to him without being a total dick. 

He looks around and then he spots Harry sitting on a horse. Of course he’d be the one to hit the ball that starts the game. Louis leans back down on his chair and actually takes the time to look at Harry like he hasn’t been able to do. Next to Harry is his Irish friend Niall who is petting the horse and saying something that must be absolutely hilarious, judging by Harry’s reaction. Harry is laughing so loud even Louis hears it from all the way across the field. He throws his head back and Louis can’t stop staring at the younger boy’s throat. All pale skin that’s glowing in the sun. Louis can’t help but wonder what it would look like if there was a bruise the size of his mouth there. As soon as the thought enters his mind he shakes his head and turns to look around him to see if anyone noticed him staring. He takes a few breaths then looks back to Harry who is now galloping on his horse. His hair bouncing on his head. Each curl falling back in its original place and Louis quickly looks away in fear of another non-hatred Harry thought that may cross his mind. 

He closes his eyes and focuses on calming himself down. When he opens his eyes again he feels a presence next to him. He looks to his side and sees Harry sitting next to him. He doesn’t know how long he’s looking for when all of a sudden Harry turns to him and says: 

“The game is that way.” It’s quiet and reserved. As if he’s scared Louis will lash at him again. Louis sits up and clears his throat.

“Yes, I know that. I was just…uhm..thinking about how I….uhm.”

Harry just furrows his eyebrows in confusion. So Louis just continues. 

“I was just….I don’t know how to…..I never do this, so, like…uh. Oh for God’s sake.” Louis suddenly says, making Harry jump a bit, then Louis says: 

“I’m sorry, Harry. I’m sorry for being a complete douche to you. I shouldn’t have said all those things to you.”

“What things?” Harry says, looking down at his shoes. 

“Everything that I said. I had no right to say anything, cause you were right. I don’t know you, not anymore. And I shouldn’t have said that thing about you sleeping around with half the kingdom, because if anyone should know about rumours it should be me. So, I’m sorry.”

Just like that Louis feels a whole weight lift off his shoulders. He knows he should have done this before but he’s quite glad he waited till now. Harry lifts his head and just smiles at Louis. A real smile, Louis notices. One that shows of his dimples and that makes his eyes shine. 

“I’m sorry too.”

“For what?”

“That you have to be married to me. I know you’d rather have been with someone else. So I’m sorry you didn’t have a choice.”

“About that. I sort of did have a choice.” Louis says and then he’s looking at his fingers and playing with them. He feels Harry looking at him. 

“What do you mean you had a choice?”

“I mean that my mom offered me two people.”

“Who?”

“Well obviously you and uhm the other one was Eleanor.”

“You mean THE princess Eleanor Calder from Manchester?”

“Yes, her.” He says with a shrug.

Louis is glad Harry just laughs at this and doesn’t ask him why he didn’t choose her. Because Louis does not have an answer to that. Eleanor is a lovely girl and a good friend but being married to her was something Louis wanted even less than being married to Harry. 

“I chose you too, you know.” Louis’ eyes grow twice their size at this. He turns back to Harry and looks at him with raised eyebrows.

“It was either you or Nick. And as much as I love Nick I would not want to be married to him.”

Louis can’t help but laugh at the fake shudder Harry does at that. He stops laughing though when he sees that Harry’s face has fallen serious. When Harry sees that he stopped laughing he moves a bit closer and then in a low voice says: 

“I know this is not ideal for you. So, I just wanted to let you know that…Well, basically what I’m trying to say is that if you want to like do something that I can’t help you with. You can go get it somewhere else. I wouldn’t mind… well I would but I could pretend?"

Louis narrows his eyes and scrunches up his nose, before saying: “What on bloody earth are you talking about Styles?”

“You know, like if you want to have...” Harry makes some hand movements and Louis gets even more confused. Harry lets out a big sigh and says:

“Sex. I’m talking about sex.”

Louis’ mouth drops open at that and he would have fallen from his chair if it weren’t for those big armrests. He can honestly say that he never expected Harry to say that. He just stares at Harry for a while before finally answering:

“I may not want to be married, but I still respect it’s values. I would never do that Harry. Trust me.”

He doesn’t know if that final phrase has Harry convinced, so to say that Louis is surprised by Harry’s next words is an understatement.

“I do.”


	4. Husbands

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I almost forgot to upload this chapter. The first part is from Harry's POV but after the first line break it's all Louis. Also this chapter is kind of sad. I'm sorryyyy.xx

“Why don't you just tell him the truth?”

“I can’t Niall. What am I supposed to do? Just walk up to him and say: Oh hey Louis, I know you hate me and all that but I’ve had feelings for you since we were children and I still feel the same way even after you left me and I was wondering if maybe you wanted to go out with me and get to know each other even though we’re already married.”

Niall laughs at this and stuffs another crisp in his mouth. While chewing it he says: “Does he really hate you though? You guys looked quite friendly during the polo match, so what was that?”

“I told you this before, if you actually paid attention to me instead of food you would have heard that I told you he was just apologizing for the fight we had before.”

The blond boy shrugs at this. “Well if he apologised than he isn’t so bad right?” 

Before Harry has a chance to say something Niall continues: “And, he told you he wouldn’t shag other lads cause he respects your marriage so that has to count for something, you may have a chance there mate.”

“First off, that doesn’t mean anything except that he’s been raised the right way. And secondly what on earth makes you think that I have a chance?”

Niall stands up from where he’s sitting across from Harry and lies next to him on the bed. He lifts his arm and signs to Harry to get closer. Harry leans closer and rests his head against Niall’s shoulder. “You’re being too negative Harry. Has Louis even explained why he left so abruptly six years ago?”

The curly haired boy shakes his head. “No, I did ask him but he never answered.”

Niall pulls him closer to his own body. “You’ll just wait and see young Haz. Everything will work out. We Irish people have an eye for these kind of things.” 

“We’ll see Ni.”

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Louis hasn’t seen harry the whole day now. And that’s weird, seeing as they’re not in the middle of a fight and the younger boy has no other obligations. So where the hell is that kid? It’s not that he’s worrying or that he actually wants to see him. He wants to know because it’s his duty as his husband. And also he may have heard that he has a friend over and he just wants to know if Harry is going to follow his own words buy having sex with someone else. Deep down he knows Harry would never, but he is telling himself that he might be and that’s why he has to go up to Harrys room. Just to check. 

As he’s standing in front of Harry’s door he puts his ear against it to hear something. He hears absolutely nothing. Should he walk in slowly or just barge in using a poor excuse. After much thinking he chooses the latter. 

“So Harry I was wondering if-“

“Ssshh. Shut your mouth.”

He hears in an Irish accent. He snaps his mouth shut and looks at the source of the noise. And what he sees does not please him at all. He sees Harry’s Irish friend lying on the bed and Harry himself is draped all over him and looks to be sound asleep.

“What is going on here? Can’t a guy have a day for himself without finding his husband draped all over someone else?” 

“Oh hush. You and I both know there is nothing going on here. It’s all friendly.”

“Is it?” Louis argues, putting a hand on his hip and raising an eyebrow at Niall. 

“Yes, your highness. Don’t you remember how Harry used to be? He is still the same over affectionate teddy bear. Just a few inches bigger now.” He says, while running his hands through the boy’s curls. 

Louis softens at this. Because he does remember. He does remember how he and Harry used to be all over each other because they just needed to touch, needed to hug all the time, needed to be around each other and has it really only been six years? Because it feels like he hasn’t touched Harry in a lifetime. As he keeps staring at Niall and Harry looking like the definition of peaceful and comfortable he feels something stir in his stomach. He doesn’t know how to define this feeling, nor does he know where it came from. All he knows is that he has to leave this room right this instant.   
So he does. He turns around as fast as he can and runs out of the room before he can stop himself. 

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Look who decided to wake up, it’s our own personal Sleeping Beauty.” Louis says while swaying his legs from where he’s sitting on the counter in the kitchen. “You do realize it’s 11 PM already?”

Harry lifts his hand to scratch his head and looks up at Louis. He lets out a small chuckle and says: “Yeah I know. Sorry I missed dinner. I don’t know what came over me.” 

“Oh I know. Niall did. Or maybe it was the other way around?” Louis knows he’s challenging Harry and he knows that if he continues this he will definitely get into another fight. But he just can’t seem to stop himself. Harry brings something up in him. The boy in question raises his eyebrow and with a confused tone he says: 

“What on earth are you talking about?”

“Oh, nothing much. Just the fact that when I came into your bedroom you were draped all over someone who, I can assure you, was not your husband.”

“No, he was not because my ‘husband’ has never even been closer to me than 1 feet. But thanks for informing me.” The boy with the curls says, surprising even Louis with the amount of sass lacing the words. 

“There is no need to make quotation marks while saying the word husband, Harry.”

Harry raises both his hands and wipes at his face with clear frustration. “You know, Louis. I don’t know if you’re PMS'ing or something. But your mood swings are driving me crazy. One day your actually fun to talk to and the next your just dying to pick a fight with me. Choose one direction cause I don’t know how long I’ll stay sane this way.”

“Maybe you were never sane to begin with. Ever thought of that?”

“You know what? I won’t even indulge you this time, so fuck you Louis.”

“Don’t swear at me.”

“And why the hell not?”

“I don’t know how many times you want me to say it, but I am your husband and you don’t treat them this way.”

“You only seem to acknowledge that your my husband when you’re trying to make a point. Have you ever thought maybe I would treat you more as my husband if you actually start acting like it.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means that husband are actually meant to know each other.”

“I do know you.”

“Oh really?”

Louis jumps off the counter and walks up closer to Harry and nods his head. He stops right in front of Harry to challenge him. Harry seems to understand this because the next thing he says is: “What’s my favourite colour? What is my favourite clothing item? When is my birthday?”

“Green, obviously those ugly boots you wear every goddamn day and your birthday is January 3rd.”

Harry obviously deflates at this and Louis can’t help but feel actual pain course though him at seeing Harry’s eyes glistening. The pain worsens when he hears Harry talk, obviously trying really hard to not cry.

“My favourite colour is blue, I love to wear skinny jeans and my birthday is on February 1st.”

Louis flinches when Harry’s voice breaks at the wordy birthday. He lowers his voice and says: “Well you don’t know the answers to those questions for me.”

“Red, suspenders and your birthday is on December 24th. So much for knowing each other right?”

Harry laughs with no emotion. Then he turns around and walks out of the kitchen.


	5. The Drunk Confession

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for updating so late. I was busy this weekend. But this is a happy chapter. A REAL happy chapter this time. No fighting, nothing. Just a drunk Louis who is also very veryyyy honest. If you catch my drift. Hope you like it. Let me know.xx

“Why am I here? I don’t even like Grimshaw.”

Louis groans while grabbing another glass of champagne from the waiter who walked by. He doesn’t know how many he has already had, he lost count at twelve. He thinks he might be drunk already and he’s only been here for two hours. He’s standing in a corner talking to Liam who is looking at him with worried eyes, because he knows Louis is drunk. 

“Because Harry is friends with Nick and now every invitation Harry gets automatically means that you have to join too. So get ready for a lot of parties, because unlike you Harry has friends who actually like him and want him there. And don’t you think you’ve had enough to drink, you’re already drunk enough.” 

Louis answers with an eye roll, followed by: “ If you have to spend a whole night pretending to like Dick Grimshaw you never have enough to drink.” 

“You seem to actually hate him. Not like how you do with Harry.”

“What does that mean?”

“You have to figure that out by yourself. So, tell me. What did Nick ever do to you?”

“He stole my Haz.”

Whatever answer Liam expected it certainly was not that. He chokes on his drink and coughs loudly, receiving some looks from people around them, including Harry who just looks at Louis with a soft smile before turning around and walking towards the other side of the room. 

After Liam finally stops coughing he just keep staring at Louis until the blue eyed boy says: “What?”

“Did you just say….Your Haz??”

“Aren’t I supposed to be the drunk one? Yes, that’s what I said. What of it?” 

“Yeah, youre definitely drunk. So you hate Nick cause he took Harry away from you? Weren’t you the one to leave Harry behind?”

“Yes, because I knew he preferred to be with Nick more.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Well, because- HARRY!” Louis stops explaining and starts waving frantically at someone behind Liam. The brown-eyed boy turns around and sees Harry looking at them with wide eyes, like he cant believe Louis is actually calling him. He just stands there, not moving. Until he hears Louis calling again:   
“Harryberry, come here. Come to me.” 

Slowly but surely Harry approaches them and stands next to Liam just looking at Louis like he’s a ghost. Louis pouts and then says: “Why are you standing next to Liam? He is not your husband. I am.”

“Right, sorry.” Harry says before walking to Louis and standing next to him. If Harry already looked surprised Liam doesn’t know what to call the look Harry has when Louis wraps both of his arms around Harry’s waist. 

“Uhm, Louis are you okay?” Harry asks, with real concern and confusion lacing his words.

“I am perfectly fine, love. I am a bit tired though. I wanna go home, can we go home my curlyboy?” Louis says while patting Harry on his head. 

“Sure. Of course. I’ll let the driver know we want to go.” 

“Thank you.” 

Harry walks of and keeps glancing back to Louis as if he’s not sure if he is a 100 percent sure about what just happened. Louis waves at him until he’s out of the ballroom, then he turns back to Liam. 

“So you and Harry are okay now? What did I miss? Or it’s just the alcohol kicking in.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well last time we spoke you couldn’t stop talking about how much you hated him.”

“I never hated Harry.”

“I can clearly remember you saying that, though? I’m sure Zayn will vouch for that.”

“Oh silly Liam, you’re being silly. If you’ll excuse me I have to go to Harry, because we are going home. Our home. Cause were married now. Me and Haz. Louis and Harry Tomlinson.”

Louis keeps muttering thing to himself until he’s outside. He’s looking around, trying to find a tall boy with curls. Surely it couldn’t be that hard? He walks down the steps and bumps into someone, who immediately says: 

“Oops.” 

Louis looks at the person, ready to apologize to him. He finds himself staring into a pair of green eyes. He lets out a deep sigh and then says: 

“Hi.”

“Louis? I was just coming to get you. The car is here.”

“Okey dokey.”

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

They step into the car in silence. Harry having to help the older boy because he can’t seem to be able to keep his balance. When they’re seated the driver starts the car and Louis stares out the window. Harry is the first to break the silence: 

“How much did you drink?”

Louis turns around and stares at Harry for a while, then says: 

“You have green eyes.”

“It would appear so, yes.” Harry chuckles. 

“I’ve always liked your eyes. Every time I met someone I would look if they had the same colour as yours. I’ve seen a lot of green eyes. But never like yours. Yours are a special green.”

“Special good or bad?”

“Special good. Very good.” Louis sighs then shuffles closer to Harry and leans his head on the taller boy’s shoulder. Harry tenses first, then Louis shuffles even closer and wraps his arms around Harry for the second time this night and Harry relaxes at this. 

“You’re very drunk, you know?”

“Maybe.”

“No, I’m pretty sure you are. Cause if you were just tipsy you would never be civil to me and you would surely not be touching me like this.”

“Doesn’t mean I never wanted to.”

Harry closes his eyes and rests his head atop Louis’. “You know you can always touch me like this, I wouldn’t push you away.”

“You should, though.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m a dick.”

Harry lets out a surprised laugh at the confession, then says: “I cannot deny that.”

“I like it when you laugh.”

“Yeah?” Harry whispers. 

“Yes, but I like it even more when I’m the one making you laugh.”

“You always know how to make me laugh”

“I haven’t made you laugh for a long time and that’s all my fault.” Louis says in a sad tone. 

Before Harry can respond the car stops and the driver says they’ve arrived. Harry gets out first, then walks around the car to help Louis out. Louis grabs a hold of Harry’s hand and leans on him. Harry gently guides him to his bedroom. He puts him on his bed then turns to leave, when Louis stops him.

“Harry, I can’t sleep in clothes.” Harry looks back to see Louis looking at his clothes as if they just offended him. Harry smiles and says: 

“Then take them off.”

“I can’t get these buttons open. They are protesting. Help me?”

“Sure, Lou.”

He walks back to Louis and unbuttons his shirt. When he’s done he looks back up to Louis and he’s shocked to see Louis’ eyes shining with unshed tears. He’s instantly concerned.

“What is it? Did I do something wrong? What happened? Louis, what is it?!”

“You called me Lou.” He says in a soft, broken tone. 

“I’m sorry?” 

“No, don’t be sorry. I just…. I didn’t realize how much I missed you calling me Lou. Can I….No, never mind.” Louis shakes his head as if, trying to shake away the idea he just had.

“No tell me. Can you what?”

“Can I call you Haz again? I really missed calling you Haz.” 

Harry gulps at this. He missed being called Haz too. No one called him that but Louis. And when someone tried to he would just say he didn’t like to be called that. This time, however he whispers:

“Sure you can. You don’t have to ask. You never have to ask.”

Louis nods at this and then he points at his trousers and Harry gets the hint. So he unbuttons the trousers and pulls them down. Then he gently pushes Louis back on the bed and covers him with the duvet. 

“Goodnight, Lou.”

“You’re not gonna stay with me?”

“Do you want me to?”

“Of course I do. Don’t be silly. We're married now, just like I always dreamed of.”

Harry freezes and swallows a few times.

"What was that?"

"What was what?" Louis says. He's looking at Harry with his blue eyes wide open. Looking like the actual definition of innocent. 

"What you said about being married to me."

"What did I say about that?"

"Never mind." Harry sighs. He walks around the bed and takes of his pants, but leaves on his shirt. He lies down next to Louis under the duvet. He lies on his back and stares at the ceiling. He doesn’t fall asleep though, he cant. Not after what Louis just confessed. 

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

After what could be hours he feels a hand on his chest. Then he feels a whole body against his side and a head resting on his shoulder. The hand starts to make little shapes on his chest and then the shorter boy begins to talk. 

“I’m sorry for leaving you, six years ago. I just thought that if I left you it would go away and you could be happy.”

“What would go away?”

“I’ll tell you tomorrow. I’m tired, now. Can we go to sleep?”

“Of course. You’ll tell me tomorrow?”

“I promise.”

“Okay.”


	6. Too Little Too Late

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HELLOOOOO, me is back. I'm sorry it's so late but school is killing me at the moment. So to make it up I made this chapter a bit longer, but it's a sad chapter. A really sad one. For both Harry and Louis. IMSORRYYYY. It does get better after this. I think. Anyways let me know what you think by Kudo's or Comments or message me on my tumblr: larryship-co-captain.tumblr.com xx

Why is the sun a thing? Is the first thing Louis thinks when he opens his eyes. The second thing he thinks is why his chest feels so heavy and why his chin tickles. After he wakes up a bit more he freezes. Because he realizes that there is a person next to him. Not just next to him, but wrapped around him. That person is lying on his arm and said arm is wrapped around a waist. 

His mind starts working hard to regain some memories from last night. He knows he was drunk beyond help but he couldn’t have brought someone home with him right? He just couldn’t. He would never do that to Harry. Surely he didn’t, right? People would have stopped him if he was walking with someone. People like Liam and Zayn. They were there, that he does remember. 

Too scared to open his eyes he starts feeling the person next to him. His right hand remains on the strangers waist while his left one starts at the abdomen. He is too scared to feel the chest. He raises it slowly and when it stays flat he at least compliments himself for not bringing home a girl. Then he raises it even more and feels collarbones. Very prominent collarbones at that. Going even higher he feels the persons lips. God, he thinks to himself, this person must be fucking hot. The lips he feels are plump and soft and just feel very kissable. When he’s at the top of the head he starts combing the mop of hair he feels. Lots of hair. Lots of soft hair. Lots of curly hair. His hand freezes in the middle of a stroke. Wait a minute. Curly hair? Curly as in…just like Harry. 

“No.” He says, barely above a whisper. He knows he has to open his eyes now. He will seriously hurt himself if he doesn’t open them. After a few deep breaths he slowly opens one eye and looks down on the head resting on his chest. What he sees leaves him breathless. Harry is on his chest, silently sleeping with one arm around Louis’ waist and the other bend in between them. His eyes are closed and his face is void of any emotion. Louis notices that his lashes seem to be going for miles. He looks so peaceful and kind of beautiful. Kind of very beautiful. 

Stop it, he thinks. He can’t start thinking like this again. Thinking like this is what got him here in the first place. Here as in being estranged from Harry and being married to him in completely the opposite way as he first pictured it when he was still friends with the curly haired boy. At this, his blue eyes widen and his mind goes completely blank except for one little thought. What if he told Harry some things yesterday? Things he kept hidden in the not so little Harry-box in his mind.   
What did he and Harry do exactly? They couldn’t have done ‘it’ right? He looks at himself and sees he is in his boxers. Then he looks at Harry and sees that he is completely dressed in the suit he was wearing yesterday. Okay, so ‘it’ is of the card. 

The half-naked boy feels very out of control right now and he doesn’t like it. He doesn’t know what happened last night. What he said or what he did to make Harry feel so comfortable around him to sleep in the same bed with him. What he does know is that he needs to get out of this bed and Harry’s grasp as fast as he can before every wall he’s worked on building crumbles down. 

Slowly but surely he moves himself out of Harry’s arms. Trying his very best not to wake him up, because that will make for a very awkward scene which may lead to certain confessions and Louis is not ready for that. Once he’s finally freed he stands next to the bed and just stares at Harry who by now has realized that something has changed and is now rearranging himself. He curls up against Louis’ pillow. Then he lets out a soft happy-sounding sigh and Louis takes that as his cue to leave. 

He walks to the kitchen and drinks a big glass of water. Then he puts both his hands on the counter and lets his head hang between his shoulders. He needs to know what happened last night. He has to. He closes his eyes and thinks back to last night. He remembers getting out of the car with Harry. He remember them splitting up instantly after arriving because Dick Grimshaw wanted to talk to Harry. He knows he started drinking then, because Harry and Nick have always been a sensitive subject. What else does he remember? 

Liam! He remembers spending the biggest part of the night with Liam. With that ha walks out of the kitchen and into the living room. Picking up the phone and dialling Liam’s number. It rings tice before he hears a woman’s voice: 

“Payne residence, how may I help you?”

“Hi, is Liam home?”

“Yes sir, but I’m afraid the prince is still sleeping. Can I take a message?”

“No! No message. This is of great importance. Just hand him the phone and tell him Louis has an emergency.”

“Just a moment, sir.”

Louis hears rustling on the other line and then he hears a door open and a few whispers. Then there’s even louder rustling and then he hears a tired sounding Liam:

“What is it?”

“Thank god, Liam. You have to tell me EVERYTHING I said and did last night.”

“What? Why?”

“Because I woke up with my arms full of Harry and I don’t know why or how or when or what?”

“That’s probably because you were absolutely wasted. Wait did you guys, like, have..you know?”

“No Li, we did not have sex”, Louis says with a sigh, ”just please tell me what I did last night?”

“Well, you were awfully nice to Harry for starters. Then you kept clinging to him and asking if you could go home and then you went home.”

“That’s it? That doesn’t explain why he’s in my bed.”

“Well that’s all that happened at the party. I don’t know what you said to him in your home. Speaking of what you said. What was that about you saying that Nick stole your Haz and that you thought he’d be happier with Nick?”

Louis sobers up even more and he can do absolutely nothing about the fact that his heart is beating in his throat now. How could he have been so stupid? How is he supposed to get out of this one? Liam knows when he’s lying. Well, nothing wrong with trying. 

“I was drunk Liam. I was just talking shit.”

“No way Louis. You are not getting out of this so easily. I know when you’re talking shit and that was not one of those times. So spill it.”

“Can we not do this over the phone though?” Louis says in a defeated tone. He knows he has no other option than to tell Liam the truth. But he can’t do it right now, because he doesn’t even know what the truth is anymore. His mind is so far gone that it started to believe the stories and excuses Louis has been feeding it. All he needs is to sort it out. ‘It’ meaning his feelings for Harry. 

“How about I come by tonight then? I’ll bring Zayn so he can keep Harry busy while we talk.”

“Sure.”

“Okay, nice. Well I’m going back to sleep now, seeing as it’s only 7 AM and I will see you tonight. Don’t worry yourself too much Lou. It makes for very ugly wrinkles.”

Liam laughs at his own joke before hanging up, but all Louis can think about is the sudden memory that floated in his mind when Liam called him Lou.   
Harry called him Lou. Harry called him Lou yesterday. And God help Louis because he is about to burst with the amount of feelings he is experiencing right now. Because not only did he get called Lou, he finally got the chance to call Harry by his nickname again. He called him Haz again. And he knows that it’s just a little thing. For crying out loud they’re just nicknames. But somehow they mean so much to him and he is not awake enough for this. He needs to take a shower and he needs some food in his system. He needs to think of a way to convince Harry not to ask questions about anything else he may have said last night and he needs to-

“Why are you up so early?”

Louis looks up from the floor and sees Harry standing in the doorway rubbing his eyes. 

“I was just calling Liam to see if he could come to dinner tonight.”

“Oh. And?”

“And what?”

“Is he coming? And is he bringing Zayn?”

“Yes to both.”

“Can I maybe invite two of my friends?”

“Sure. The more the merrier right?”

“Yeah.” He doesn’t know why but Harry sounds kind of unsure about himself. As if he wants to say something else but can’t seem to figure out how to approach it. Louis knows what this is about and as inconspicuously as he can tries to leave the room.

“Well, I’m going to take a shower. Could you maybe tell the kitchen staff that we’re having guests?”

The curls on the boys head bounce when he nods his head. Louis walks around him and starts climbing the stairs. When he’s halfway up he gets stopped by Harry’s voice at the bottom.

“Louis, wait.” 

Without turning around Louis says, well more like snaps: “What?”

“Yesterday”, Harry starts. Oh no, Louis thinks, here it comes. “You said something and then when I asked you to explain it you told me to ask you tomorrow.” 

At this, Louis completely sobers up and turns around. He looks down and stares Harry in the eye. “Well?”

“Well, uhm, today is tomorrow and, well, uhmm….”

“Just spit it out Harry.” The amount of fear in his own voice startled even Louis himself. 

“You said you left me because you thought it would make me happier.” Harry says it so fast that it takes Louis a while before he completely realizes what has just been said. And when he does, his whole body tenses. His heartbeat picks up and his hands begin to shake. How could he have said that and not remember it. How could he have been so stupid? Why? Why? Why?

Louis gets shaken out of his thought when he sees Harry approaching him on the stairs. When Harry stops on the step just below Louis’ they’re on the same eye level like this. The first thing Louis says is: 

“Wh-What?” It’s barely a whisper but Harry seems to understand so he lowers his own voice and says: 

“You said, that the reason you left me six years ago was because you thought I’d be happier and that it would go away. What did you mean Lou? What is it? And why would I have been happier without you?”

Harry stares straight into Louis’ eyes and it makes him uncomfortable. So he slowly climbs the stairs while still facing Harry. Being a new house and all he doesn’t know how many steps there actually are so when he reaches the top he doesn’t know so he takes one more step and almost falls. But then there are two arms wrapped around his waist and he’s standing steady on the ground. Harry pushes Louis until the blue eyed boy feels himself being pressed into a wall.   
He wants to look away from Harry’s green eyes but somehow he can’t seem to get the will to do it. Harry lets go of Louis’ waist to let both of his hand rest on the wall on either side of Louis’ face and then he starts talking again:

“Tell me, Louis, please. Because if it is what I think it is then I need you to say it.”

“Why?”

“Please, don’t do this anymore. Just talk to me, don’t play these games. All I’m asking for is the truth.”

“What good would it do?”

“A lot of good. It could make us happy again. It would make me forget about these awful past six years.” Harry says with a sad chuckle. 

Louis swallows down the big lump in his throat and looks at Harry’s trembling lower lip, then he looks back to his eyes and sees that there are tears in them. Just as one makes its ways down the younger boys cheek Louis says: 

“I said those things, because…..Because I….I-I can’t”

“Damn it Louis.” Harry shouts and slams his hand down on the wall on Louis’ left side. “Why are you doing this to me? Do I really mean so less to you that you keep playing me like this? What is wrong with you?”

Louis feels a wet trail down his cheek and realizes that he too is crying, he shakes his head because he’s at a complete loss for words. 

“And now you have nothing to say, right? I thought you were such a smartass? Then again, I have no one to blame but myself. Me and my stupid head. I honestly thought that maybe, just maybe, if I tried hard enough that you and I could be how we used to be. Maybe even more, because apparently I thought I was living in a fucking Disney movie. But you just had to barge right in and prove me wrong. Unbelievable! You’re nothing but a selfish, ignorant prick.”

Harry turns around and walks to his bedroom door before slamming it he says:   
“I hope you’re happy now, because you’ve officially broken me.” 

Then the door slams and Louis is left alone in the hallway to listen to the slam echo around the palace. When it’s completely silent Louis lets himself sink to the floor and whispers a soft: 

“I love you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AGAIN I AM SO SORRYYYYYYY!!!!!! LOTS OF LOVEEEEE XXXXX


	7. The Irish Saviour

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What did I say about horrible update-habits?? I truly am sorry. I had a birthdayparty this weekend and then today on school I had this oral exam, but I aced that so I thought: hey I can do something for myself now. So I wrote this chapter. Not much Larry interaction, but it builds up to the next chapter. HOPE YOU LIKE IT! Let me know on here or on tumblr (larryship-co-captain,tumblr.com) xx

"And then what happened?"

"Nothing. Nothing happened. He just slammed his bedroom door and I just stood there like an idiot and realized that-"

Louis swallows down his own words. He's not ashamed of his feelings for Harry or his realization of said feelings. He just thinks that if anyone should be the first to know about them and hear him say it out loud it should be no one else but Harry himself. He owes him that much. 

"What? What did you realize?"

"Nothing of importance."

"You realized you may not hate him that much? Or not at all?"

Louis nods his head slowly and says: "Something like that yeah. But it's all ruined now and its my own damn fault."

Liam looks at him with concern written all over his face.   
"It couldn’t have been that bad right? I mean, come on Louis, you've abandoned him for six years and he didn’t hold a grudge about that so he wouldn’t completely cut you of now, right?" 

Louis winces when Liam says the word abandoned and closes his eyes. After a few moments passed and he still hasn’t respond, Liam repeats: "Right?"

"I think it’s different this time Li. I mean you should have seen him. The way he looked, it was heartbreaking. He just looked s defeated and just so unbelievably tired. But worst of all. When he closed the door he just looked disappointed. And not with me, because I would have understood if he was, but he looked disappointed in himself. As if he did something wrong, as if it was his fault that I'm such a coward." 

Liam was silent for a while, then he lifted his hand and rested it on Louis' shoulder. "I don’t know what to tell you Lou. I think this is one of those things you need to figure out on your own and then come up with your own solution because between the both of us it's still you that knows Harry best. Even though you think you dont."

All Louis could do was nod his head, because he knows if he tries to talk he'll just burst out in tears, Liam seems to notice this and pulls Louis in for a hug.   
"It will all work out in the end Lou, I promise."

"But what if it doesn’t though? What do I do then?"

Liam gently pushes Louis away from the hug to look him in the eyes. "You can't think like that. If you really want to be with Harry, which I think you do, you need to do all that you can to let him know."

Louis nods and opens his mouth to say something but gets cut off by the doorbell ringing. Signalling the arrival of the final guest of the night. Louis hears the door being opened by the maid and then hears footsteps coming their way.  
"Well, look who couldn’t wait to see me so they decided to wait in the hallway for me. It's okay boys, I have arrived. Now can we get some dinner, cause I am starving. And please do tell where I can find dear old Harold."

Louis knows Liam is talking to Nick but he doesn’t hear him. He is too distracted by the way Nick is looking at him, as if he knows what happened. The tall boy walks past him and gives him a wink, then he disappears behind the dining room doors and Louis is alone with Liam once again. 

"Come on, Romeo. Time to eat and then you have to woo Harry."

Louis groans as Liam pulls him to the dining room. 

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

If Louis thought dinner between him and Harry was awkward then he doesn’t know how to call this. There’s an obvious divide between all the men on the table. This time Harry did choose to sit on the opposite end of the table, with Nick and Niall joining him and then there’s Louis with Zayn and Liam sitting on either side of him. Both group of men have their own conversation going on but Louis can’t seem to focus on Zayn and Liam, instead he keeps looking over to Harry. Hoping to catch his eye and then signal to him that he needs to talk, but he knows how stubborn he can be. 

After a while he feels eyes on him and looks up with hope building inside of him, only to find blue eyes staring at him instead of the green ones he wanted. He can’t seem to figure out what kind of look Niall is giving him. One second he thinks it something akin to sympathy but then the next it looks more like anger. The anger part he deserves, he thinks, but it’s the sympathy part that he doesn’t quite understand. Why on earth would one of Harry’s best friend sympathize him, when he was the one being such a jackass. 

He looks over to Nick and sees an entire different look on him. Nick is smiling at him, but there’s something off about it. It looks more like a smug smile. He’s about to raise his eyebrow when he gets interrupted by the kitchen door opening and one of the maids entering. 

“Uhm, prince Louis? Would you like to come check the dessert? The chef wants to know if it’s okay like it is?”

“Right, I’m coming.” He stands up and when he’s halfway there he hears someone say: “I’m coming too.”

He looks back and sees Niall stand up and walking towards him. 

“I am the best at desserts, so you need my expertise. You’re welcome.” With that he walks past Louis and into the kitchen. Louis just looks confused for a second before following the Irish prince. 

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Did you fall on your head or were you just born stupid?” Niall says once the door closes. 

“I’m sorry. What?”

“I’m just trying to figure out why you’re constantly in the mood to hurt Harry like that when we all know there is something else you’d like to do to him. Well, everyone except the boy himself.”

Louis crosses his arms and raises an eyebrow at the blond boy. “And what else are we talking about?”

“Stuff that I would not like to discuss when I’m about to eat some delicious pie.”

Louis lets out a surprised chuckle at that, not expecting Niall being so blunt and kind to him. It is the first genuine laugh since the whole breakdown he had. “You are a strange one.”

Niall jumps on the counter and smiles at him. “Not as strange as you, though. Why won’t you just tell the kid how you feel, I mean I’d think it’s the least he deserves after pining for you for six years. I swear to God those were the longest years of my life.”

Louis uncrosses his arms and drops them by his side in shock.”What?”

“I’m just saying that I probably know almost everything about you and we haven’t even had a normal conversation. So, basically I could be classified as a stalker if one day it would-”

“NO! Not that. I meant the pining? Harry was pining?”

“Of course he was you asswipe.” It was silent for a moment when all of a sudden Niall started laughing so hard Louis honestly thought he would choke and once Niall started turning red he was actually genuinely concerned about the boys wellbeing. 

“O my god. This is too good. Please don’t tell me you didn’t notice how big of a crush Harry had on you since like, day one.”

When Louis still doesn’t reply and keeps looking with wide eyes Niall bursts into another fit of laughter and actually falls off the counter and stars kneeling on the ground and soundlessly claps his hand like a baby seal. 

It feels like forever until he stops laughing. When he finally does he stands up and leans with one hand on the counter and the other is on his side and he is catching his breath. 

“I’m sorry, but God, just when I thought no one could be more daft than Harry you come along. I would be annoyed if you two weren’t so cute together.”

“Can you please just tell me about this so called crush Harry supposedly had on me. Because I know when people are attracted to me.”

“Well apparently you do not, mister know-it-all. Because if you did e wouldn’t have had to have this conversation. But then again Harry isn’t just attracted to you, he is absolutely smitten with you.”

Louis smiles at that and starts to think that maybe there is a way out, but then he remember what Harry told him before he slammed the door. His eyes close in pain and his mouth forms into a straight line. “Whatever crush harry had on me is probably gone by now. He may have told you about-“

“About what a coward you are? Yes he did. But that’s not the point and believe me when I say that the crush is still very much alive. But you do need to act fast.”

“What does that mean?”

Niall pushes himself off the counter and walks towards Louis to put a hand on his shoulder. “Because Harry is a wounded animal right now and Nick is like the lion hunting for its next prey.”

“But-“

“And, no. He does not care about the fact that you put a ring on it. Trust me. Harry has been on Nick’s radar for a long time.”

Louis nods his head fiercely and with a newfound determination, and a bit of possessiveness, he walks into the dining room walks straight to where his husband is sitting and stops in front of him. He points at him then at himself and says: 

“You and me need to talk.”

Harry looks like he’s about to protest but then Louis starts walking towards the doors while saying: 

“Now!” 

He hears a chair scraping on the floor and then slow footsteps behind him. He opens the door for Harry and then he turns around to his guests and closes the door with a smirk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SORRYYYYYY FOR THE CLIFFHANGERRR!!!! PLEASE STILL LOVE ME


	8. The First Kiss

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiii y'all. I wasnt planning on updating so soon, to be honest I thought I'd update on Saturday, but I had a sudden spurge of inspiration so I started writing this on work. I thought it would be a short chapter but this is the longest up to now. Propz for me right? Anyways tis is a very hapy chapter, like real happy not like the other one I said would be happy. So anyways, let me know what you thought by kudos, comments or message me on tumblr. xx

"What do you want, Louis?"

He turns around and sees Harry standing in the middle of the hallway. But this time he actually sees Harry. he looks pale, even more than usual. His eyes are red and puffy as if he's been crying for a long time. But the most obvious thing was how sad he looked, just completely and utterly sad. He doesn’t know how long he's been quiet but he figures it’s been a while because Harry lets out a deep sigh. "Are you going to say something or did you just drag me over here to stare at me?"

"I'm sorry." He blurts out before he can actually think about it and end up not saying it.

To say Harry looks shocked is an understatement. His eyes are twice their usual large size and they seem even greener like that, at least to Louis they do. His mouth is wide open and all he can think of is how badly he wants to close it by kissing those lips. It really is Harry's fault, if he didn’t have those lips Louis wouldn’t have these thoughts. Then the younger boys expression changes drastically. Now, instead of looking shocked he looks absolutely pissed off.

"What is this? Another joke? Of course it would be, knowing you. Everything is a joke to you. You just love to hurt me don’t you? You just love to see me in pain and actually feel bad about liking you and I just..I just can’t wrap my head around the fact that I still like you. Hell, I don’t just like you I'm actually in love with you. And here you are tossing my emotions around like you couldn’t care less and I just wish that-"

His rant gets cuts short by Louis pushing his shoulders back until he hits the wall. The shorter boy rests his hands on either side of Harry's face and stands on his toes to be face to face. Their chests are touching and their faces are only inches apart. Louis can feel Harry's heartbeat speeding up and beating loudly against his chest, mimicking his own heart. Their breaths are mingling together and hitting their faces. 

"I said I'm sorry. So so sorry." He whispers with a quivering tone. He knows this is his last chance. It's now or never. And with that exact same thought he leans in closer to his husbands face and closes the small distance between their lips. 

He hears a surprised moan in the back of Harry's throat but he keeps his own lips firmly on his. He starts to move his lips and then it's like Harry wakes up, because all of a sudden both pair of lips are moving against each other. Harry grabs Louis' hips with both his hands and pulls him closer, while Louis moves one of his hands to cup Harry's cheek and the other to bury in his curls. When he feels a tongue swiping over his lower lip he smiles a but before opening his mouth to let Harry in. His legs are about to give out and he doesn't know if it’s because he's been standing on his toes the whole time or because of the way he is being kissed an held by Harry. He thinks it has more to do with Harry. He never wants this to end because this is what he's been wanting to do since he realised how he truly felt about Harry, which has been a long time. Probably since they first started hanging out as young children. 

When the need for air gets too big, if you ask Louis it’s never bigger than the need to kiss Harry, they part and just stand in the same position. Louis is now standing flat on his feet, so Harry leans down and rests his forehead on his. They both try to catch their breath with their eyes closed. When Louis opens his eyes it’s to a grinning Harry. White teeth shining bright, dimples prominent and lips cherry red. He thinks this is maybe his favourite Harry-look, up till now that is. Louis shifts the hand that was buried in the curls so cup Harry's other cheek and then whispers: "You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that."

Harry releases Louis' hips to wrap his arms completely around the shorter boys waist. "Then why didn't you? I mean, it's not like I would have stopped you." 

Louis traces Harry's lower lip with his thumb. "Because I don't deserve you Harry. Maybe I did once but then I went and fucked everything up and now I know that you could do so much better, but God I hope you don't want to. I hope-" 

He stops talking when Harry puts a finger on his lips and looks him in the eyes. Green eyes shining with unshed tears. "Don't say that. Please don’t say that. We all make mistakes Lou. Just promise me one thing." His hand moves to cup Louis' cheek but end up covering almost the whole side of his face. 

"Anything." 

"Promise me that this is real. That I won’t wake up tomorrow and you'll pretend that this never happened. Promise me that this is not one of your tricks." 

Louis stands up on his toes again and slowly kisses Harry. It’s a short but meaningful kiss. He pulls back just by an inch and whispers "I promise." 

This seems to assure Harry because before Louis knows what’s happening he's being surrounded by Harry's giant body. Arms tight around his waist. He wraps his own arms firmly around Harry's neck and buries his face in the crook between his neck and shoulder. Now that Louis is enveloped in Harry's arms and Harry's smell and just everything Harry he can’t help but burst out in tears. He doesn’t know if they're tears of joy or sadness, probably a bit of both. Harry notices that Louis has started crying and tightens his hold on him even more. "Sshh, what is it?" 

Louis just shakes his head and buries his face deeper in Harry's neck.  
Harry tries to pull Louis away from him to look him in the eyes but Louis refuses to move even an inch. "Come on, Lou. Look at me. Please." 

It's the please that does it. Louis pulls away and stares at Harry, who just raises his hands to wipe away the tears with his thumbs. "What’s the matter?" 

"I just. I'm sorry Harry. For everything. For being such a little shit to you. For making you think that I hated you. For not being brave enough to be honest with you. And most of all, I'm sorry for leaving you six years ago. I did that because I was confused. All of a sudden you weren't just my best friend, but you became the boy with the greenest eyes I've ever seen, the boy with the prettiest smile, the kindest, sweetest, boy I've ever met. Harry, you became someone I was in love with. And I didn't think you would feel the same and I thought that if I just distant myself from you it would go away or you would go away. Whatever cane first. And then Nick came along and you were always talking about how great he was and funny and I couldn't take it. So I left. And I'm so sorry, Haz. I have never regretted anything more in my life. I understand if you're still angry about it, but. Will you..Do you think you could ever forgive me?" 

Harry started shaking his head and Louis felt his heart drop to his stomach. "You're so crazy. And so oblivious. Louis I've had the biggest crush on you since day one. I thought you left because you found it and that was your way of letting me know you wanted nothing to do with me. And for the record, I was never angry I was just...confused, I guess. So, yes, I will forgive you, you big doofus." 

With that Harry pulls him back into a hug and Louis sighs happily, resting his head on Harry's chest right on top of his heart. " Lou, when you said you were sorry for everything, did that include...no never mind." 

Louis pulls back and watches Harry with one raised eyebrow. "What? Did that include what?" 

He can feel that Harry is nervous for what he's about to ask. He can feel it in the way he's tapping his fingers on Louis' lower back. "Just ask me."

"Are you also sorry for marrying me?" 

"What?" Louis says in utter shock. Is that really what Harry thought?  
"I don’t know. I was just wondering. You know what, never mind." He hears him mutter with his head hanging low. "Harry I have never been sorry for marrying you. Marrying you was something I used to dream about, and if you ever tell anyone that I will hurt you." 

Harry lets out a surprised bark of laughter at that. Louis laughs with him and when their laughter dies down they smile at each other. "There are the dimples I was missing."

"Shut up." Harry retorts while slightly trying to shove Louis. Louis just catches Harry's hand and intertwines their fingers and then lets their arms fall to the side. 

"What do you say? Should we go back in there", Louis nods his head towards the dining room, "or should we go upstairs?" Harry raises his eyebrows suggestively when Louis offers him the second option. "I am tempted to say upstairs but now that I'm no longer wallowing in my own self-pity I'm kind of hungry." 

"My prince has spoken, dinner it shall be." Harry giggles at this and Louis just smiles while walking towards the door, hands still intertwined. 

When Louis pulls open the door both boys let out a high-pitched shriek when they see four bodies falling to the ground. All four boys lying on the ground start to groan in pain and try to get out of the tangle of limbs. The first one to stand on their feet is Nick. "Don’t mind us, boys we were just uhm..."  
Louis narrows his eyes at him an raises one eyebrow then Niall stands up and starts touching the door everywhere while saying: "We were just checking out this lovely door, I mean look at this beauty. You don't see fine doors like this in Ireland..." He stops talking when everyone just looks at him with a look that basically says 'really?'. 

There's an awkward silence hanging around when Liam claps his hands together one time and says: "So, how about that dessert then?" 

They all agree and walk to the dinner table. The other four boys sit the way they were sitting before. So Louis grabs Harry's chair from the opposite side of the table and pushes it towards his own side to put it next to his own chair. He goes to stand behind the chair and pulls it away from the table a bit. "For the lovely Curlyprince." Harry chuckles at this and walks to the chair to sit down. Once he's seated Louis walks to his own chair and sits down too. They automatically link their hands again and rest their joined hands on the table for everyone to see. The other boys smile at the gesture, even Nick. Although his smile seems forced somehow. Louis files that away for later, for now he's content watching Harry enjoy his dessert.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the record, i LOOOVEEEE NICK GRIMSHAW. I think he's an amazing man and I just adore him. This is just the characterization of him that fits my storyline. No hard feelings??? xx


	9. The Jealous Friend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HERE I AM AGAIN. And I brought with me a new chapter for y'all. Not much happens except for the introduction of the new storyline. You'll see. Also, I tried a bit of smut, be gentle with me please because this is the first time I'm actually writing smut. I've never did that, not even with my Vampire Diaries stories. Just let me know by Kudos, Comments or message me on my tumblr: larryship-co-captain.tumblr.com xx

"Well as fun as this is, I think I'm gonna call it a night."

Louis looks up from where he's sitting on the ground. He sees Harry standing next to him, ready to leave. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, absolutely. I mean, if you must know, I didn't get much sleep last night." 

Louis blushes at that, knowing it had to do with their fight. Harry bends down and kisses him on the cheek.   
Louis quickly turns his head, before Harry has the chance to pull back his and says in a soft voice: "Do you want me to come with you?"  
Harry shakes his head with a fond smile, "No it's okay. You have fun. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do." 

"Oh please-." Louis' retort gets cut short when Harry gives him a short peck on the lips. When he pulls back its with a smug grin on his face. He stands back up and walks out of the room to the stairs. Louis keeps staring until he's out of his sights. 

Once the remaining boys in the room hear Harry's bedroom door close they start whistling, well everyone except for Nick. Niall is the loudest: "Get some Tomlinson." 

Then it's Zayn: "Atta boy. I knew you'd come around."

And of course Liam, precious Liam says: "See? What did I say? I said everything would turn out okay and you guys would be happy together. You should always listen to me Louis. I know when two people belong together."

Louis just waves his hand and says: "You guys are idiots. Nosy idiots. When did you start getting so invested in my life?"

"Well I started when Harry bounced into my room one day telling me he was going to marry you. I swear to God I had never seen a smile so big." 

A little blush rises on Louis' cheeks, but before he gets the chance to respond he hears Nick stand up at the speed of light. "Okay, guys, I'm knackered so me is going home. I’m just gonna say goodbye to Harry and I'll be gone. See you later."  
The remaining boys, except Louis, say their goodbye and then start talking about some ball that's coming up. Only Louis can’t seem to focus on the subject because Nick is going upstairs right now. To Harry. Who is sleeping, or maybe still undressing or maybe he's in the shower. What if Nick walks in when Harry is half naked?   
At this Louis stands up, makes a run to Harry's bedroom and when he arrives he sees Nick walking out of the bedroom, closing the door behind him. The tall boy looks up at the noise and faces Louis. "He's not in there. That is his bedroom right?"

"Last time I checked, yes." Louis replies with an incredible amount of sarcasm. "Well he's not there. So where could he be?"

"Did you have a good look?" 

"Yes ,Louis. I'm not an idiot."

"Could have fooled me." Louis mutters to himself, not meaning for Nick to hear. Or maybe a little. 

"I heard that." 

"Good for you? Do you want a medal for that?"

"Look what is your problem with me?" Nick says, taking a few steps towards Louis. Trying to intimidate him with his height, but failing miserably. Because all Louis does is cross his arms and raise an eyebrow to stare at Nick.

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about the fact that every time we're in each others company you're being a dick to me."

"As opposed to you, right?"

"I'm only like this to you because of one reason and it's not about me not liking you."

Louis narrows his eyes at this. "Then what is it?"

"I don't think you deserve Harry. He deserves someone that sees how special he is and who treats him like that."

Louis drops his arms at his side at this and just stares at Nick. Because he knows that he doesnt deserve Harry, but he never thought there were other people who thought the same. He quickly recovers, not wanting Nick to know that he hit a nerve with those words. "Oh and I guess you are that kind of person? Who deserves Harry?"

"Maybe not entirely, but I sure do think I'm more worthy than you."

"Apparently Harry does not feel the same way." Louis smirks.

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about the fact that he had a choice in who to marry. It was me or you. And we all know how that story ended, don’t we?" Louis winks at the end of the sentence and he can see Nick fuming at the confession he just made. He knows he shouldn’t have told him this, knows that Harry told him this in complete trust. But Nick deserved it and Louis is not going to regret this decision. 

"You son of a-" 

Nicks retort gets interrupted by the creak of Louis' bedroom door opening. Both boys turn around and see Harry standing there with his hair dripping wet and a bathrobe which is loosely knotted, revealing the top half of his chest. Louis gulps at this, because the skin there is not completely dry and there are drops of water falling from his hair down his collarbones to his chest and then further down behind the bathrobe. He remembers Nick and turns to look at him, seeing that he has a look on his face that, Louis thinks, resembled his own a few seconds ago. Both boys get shaken out of their state when Harry starts talking. 

"What's all this noise? Is everything okay?"

Louis can’t seem to find his voice after being faced with a half naked, dripping Harry Styles. So Nick is the first to talk. "Isn’t that your room?" He says while pointing his thumb over his shoulder to Harry's original room. Harry shrugs a little and gets a faint blush on his face. 

"Well yeah, but Louis' bed is much more comfortable than mine."

"So, you guys traded rooms then?"

Harry coughs uncomfortably and shakes his head. "No, not like that. We, uhm, well we share? You don't mind right, Lou?"

Louis clears his throat a few times before answering. "What? No. not at all. My bed is your bed, Haz."

Nick just looks from Louis to Harry a few times, point his finger at both of them and says: "So its your bed. As in the two of you?"

"Yup, it's our bed. We are married, silly Nick." Louis says with a fake smile. Nick just nods his head a few times and turns back to face Harry, who is just looking at Louis with a fond smile.

"I just came up here to say goodnight to you Harry and I will see you Saturday on Eleanors engagement party."

"Sure. Have a good night." Comes Harry's absent reply. Nick just walks past Louis and then down the stairs leaving the married couple alone and staring at each other. They curly haired boy is the first to break the silence.

“So, our bed huh?” He says with a smirk. Louis looks down at his feet and mumbles: "Well yeah. I just thought that...you know since you did spend a night there before and we're not on the battlefield anymore. I mean only if it's okay with you, that is. No pressure, I was planning on asking and just-."

He stops talking when he feels Harry's finger lift his chin up and cup his cheek. Once he looks up he sees that Harry's lips are only an inch away from his and when the taller boy talks he can feel his breath on his own lips. "I'm going to kiss you now." Louis doesn't even get the chance to nod before his lips are on his husbands. His arms find their way around Harry's slim waist. They stay like that for a bit when he feels Harry walk backwards to the room, Louis following with their lips still attached. Once they're in the room Louis puts his leg out and shoves at the door to close it. They keep walking until the back of Harry's legs hit the bed. The tall boy stops there but Louis wants none of that so he pushes Harry on the bed. He looks down at him on the bed and Louis can literally feel all the blood rush to his lower area. Harry looks like pure sin. His hair spread around his head like a fucking halo, his bathrobe is even looser now revealing his entire torso and those goddamn collarbones Louis seems to be attracted to so much. He's pulled back into reality when he hears an out of breath Harry say: "You just gonna stand there then?" Louis smirks at this and climbs on top of Harry. Putting his legs on either side of the boys hips. 

"Needy much?" 

"Always." 

Is Harry's reply. Louis ducks down to attach his lips to Harry's neck, kissing and sucking and licking every inch of skin available. He's marking Harry with the intention of letting people know that this boy is his and his only. Specifically people like a certain Nick. He feels two large hands grab either side of his face and then he's being pulled back to attach his lips to the boy beneath him. He is about to grind down when he hears a suspiciously Irish accent behind the door.   
"Oi! Don't even thin about doing the nasty. I'm sleeping in the room next to this. And yes, I did decide myself to crash here. Tu casa es mi casa, innit?" 

They hear him laugh at his own joke and then a door gets shut. Both boys sigh and rest their foreheads against each other. "Better luck next time." Says Harry with an even raspier voice and Louis can't help but feel smug, because he did that. He leans down to give Harry a small peck on the lips and then stands up from his place on top of Harry with a sigh. 

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

When he turns off the lights of the bathroom and walks to the bed he sees Harry opening his eyes. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."

"You didn't, I was waiting for you." 

"What a good husband you are." Louis chuckles. 

"Just come sleep." 

"Fine." Louis says while feigning an exasperated sigh. He lies down and immediately Harry curls up into him. Louis falls asleep that night with a smile and hope that every night would end like this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, I have decided to take prompts. So if anyone is interested message me on tumblr... xx


	10. The First Strike

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AND I AM BACK. I was originally planning on posting this Saturday, but then I got sucked into the Teen Wolf/STEREK world and it took me a while to get back. Seriously, I cant believe I haven't been watching it until now. Anyways, time to get back on my other ship. I hope you like this chapter. Its part fluff part angst. Not really angst, a bit angst. TELL ME YOUR THOUGHTS!!! Feedback is always appreciated.xx

"I hear congratulations are in order?" Louis says as he approaches Eleanor who is standing in the middle of the ballroom with a glass of champagne. She takes a sip first then smiles at him. 

"You've heard correctly."

"Finally found someone who's ready to settle down with you? Took you long enough, El." 

"Well, you know I only have to spend the rest of my life with them so yeah I did have a few demands."

"As long as it's not me, I'm happy for you."

"Oh please, as if I'd want to wake up to your morning face every day, no thank you." She laughs at her own comment, but then her face turns serious and she takes a step closer to Louis and loers her voice. "Also, I know your mom gave you a choice and I just wanted to thank you for not choosing to marry me, because you know I wouldn’t have refused, but now I really am happy so, yeah. Thanks."

Louis makes a mental note to ask his mom who else she told it to, because God knows this woman does not know how to shut up. 

"It was no problem, really. I knew you guys have been together for a while and since you've always helped me out I thought I'd take one for the team."

Eleanor snorts at this. “Take one for the team? If I remember correctly you kept me up at night talking about how wonderful Harry is and how nice and cute he is and I definitely remember you threatening me if I even mentioned hanging up on you and your Harry-based sonnets.” 

“Oi, be quiet. No one knows about that.” Louis says while quickly looking around for people ho may have heard that. He looks back at Eleanor and sees she has a big grin on her face. “So you haven’t told Harry how infatuated you were with him? Still are, actually.” 

“No I haven’t and he will not know. Ever.” 

“Yeah, totally. I mean how would he? You’re not going to tell him. But then again...” She pauses and puts her glass down and takes a few steps backwards. “I also know and I sure would like to have a chat with him.” And with that she takes off and starts running. 

When Louis notices she’s running towards Harry he runs after her. He knows he’s too late when he gets in hearing distance and hears an out of breath Eleanor talk to a grinning Harry. “And then he said something about your curls and how they’re not supposed to be real because they’re defying laws of gravity and they’re too shiny so he said the only plausible thing was that you had a wig. And, oh my god you should have heard him talk about your eyes. Those were the worst. He’d say you have eyes greener than the forest in spring and brighter than the stars on a warm summer night. Seriously, Harry he was obsessed with you and it was so cute and- ”

“I think Harry’s heard enough now. He has a whole range of stories now that he can use against me.” Louis says while wrapping an arm around his husband’s waist. Harry smiles down at him. “Oh I think I have room for more.” Eleanor holds her arms up in defeat. 

“No no Harry. I can take a hint. Louis wants me gone. But you just use this number and I’ll tell you more stories, yeah?” She grabs Harry’s arm and writes her number on it. 

“Sure thing.” 

“Bye guys, have fun. Just not too much fun. Yes I’ll know because I’m watching you.” She lifts two fingers up and points them to her eyes and then to the couple standing there trying to look as innocent as possible. When she’s completely turned around and talking to other guests both boys turn to each other. Louis’s arms wrap themselves around Harry’s neck who in turn has his arms around Louis’ waist. 

“Hi.”

“Why are you so tall? I don’t like this. You shouldn’t have gotten this tall.” 

“I’m sorry?”

Louis lifts himself up and gives Harry a slow kiss. “Apology accepted.” Another dimpled smile by Harry and Louis can’t help himself so he closes the distance again and just when he’s about to run his tongue over Harry’s bottom lip they hear an awkward coughing sound next to them. They part and turn their faces to the side to see Liam standing there rubbing his neck awkwardly. 

“I don’t know whether this is better or worse than when the two of you wouldn’t even look at each other.”

“Oh come on Li, admit it. You like seeing me act like this with Hazhead. Because you get to act all smug about it and be all I-told-you-so about it. And besides we look adorable.” Louis says and grabs Harry’s face with both hands and pushes their cheeks together so that both their faces are smashed against each other. He can feel Harry smile and that makes him smile even bigger. He can see Liam suppressing a small smile of his own. 

“I personally think Zayn and I look cuter, but to each their own.” 

“You mister,” Harry says while pointing his finger at Liam, “are on a time out for telling lies.”

“I agree. We will not speak with you until you have opened your eyes and see that the crown of cutest couple has been passed over to us. Bye Liam.”

The couple turns around and walks away hand in hand leaving behind a stunned looking Liam. 

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Harry is looking around trying to find a waiter with a tray of champagne glasses while Louis just stares at him with a soft smile. When after two minutes a waiter passes them Harry squeals in delight and grabs two glasses then hands one to Louis. 

“Thanks, love.”

Harry’s answering smile almost blinds Louis, it’s that big and bright. The couple is standing on the far end of the room looking at all the people dancing and chatting. Louis locks eyes with Nick who just raises his glass and winks at him with a smug smile. Louis knows that Nick is not going to give up on trying to win over Harry. But he likes to believe that it won’t work because he and Harry are real now, they have a real thing going on and Harry knows about his feelings now. He feels said person nudge his shoulder and when he turns to look at him he sees concern swimming in his green eyes. 

“You’re awfully quiet there. Everything okay?”

“Yeah.” Louis sighs happily and rests his head on the taller boys shoulder. “I’m just really happy right now. And besides can’t a guy be silent without having an ulterior motive?”

“I guess, but you’re not just a guy. If the past has taught me anything it would be that a silent Louis means a plotting Louis.”

“Oh come on. I was not that bad.”

“Do I need to remind you of that time you didn’t say a word during Aiden’s engagement party and then at the wedding Matt ended up with a huge paint stain on his pants.”

“That was his own fault.” Harry rolls his eyes at this and then Louis continues: “It was! He threatened to uninvited me, so I was just avenging that.”

“You’re such an idiot, it’s unbelievable.”

Louis steps away from Harry’s side and stands in front of him and rests one hand on Harry’s hip and the other cups his pale cheek. He rubs the skin under the green eyes with his thumb.

“And yet you still fell in love with me.” 

Harry leans into the touch and closes his eyes. “Don’t ask me how.”

“I already know it. It's my charming good looks.”

Harry steps closer and completely closes the distance between them. Chests touching and lips mere inches apart. “That must have been it.”

“Uhumm.” Louis agrees. And then he leans up to kiss Harry. It’s nothing like what they were planning on doing earlier. This time it’s more slow, more about showing how much they care for each other. And of course because they can’t resist the desire to keep kissing all the time. The kiss ends naturally but they don’t move away. Louis puckers his lip and touches Harry’s, which immediately curl up into a smile. When Louis speaks his lips bump against Harry’s lower lip. 

“Can I tell you something I haven’t told you before?” Louis feels more than sees Harry nod his head.

“I lo-“

“Harry can I talk to you for a second?”

If Louis hated Nick before he absolutely loathes him now. He moves a bit back from Harry’s face but keeps his hands firmly in place. He sees Nick standing next to them, still with the same smug smile. Louis hears Harry let out a small sigh and can’t help but feel happy about that. 

“Can’t it wait, Nick?”

“Not really, it’s kind of important.”

Harry looks back to Louis with an apology written all over his face. Louis just rubs his thumb on Harry’s cheekbone. “It’s okay, babe. Go. I’ll be right here waiting, okay?”

Harry leans down for a peck and then turns around to leave with Nick. Just when he’s about to disappear behind the doors he turns around and winks at Louis. Louis winks back and blows him a kiss. The smile on Harry is indescribable. 

 

It’s also the completely opposite look of the one he has on his face when he returns into the gigantic ballroom. Louis sees him and immediately worries about what happened. He walks up to him and Harry is meeting him halfway. Before he gets the chance to ask what’s wrong Harry starts talking.

“I can’t believe you! Why would you tell him that?” Louis thinks his confusion is evident because Harry just gets an angrier look in his eyes and then forces the words out: “Why would you tell Nick about me choosing you. I told you that in confidence.”

“Haz I- It wasn’t on purpose. I didn’t mean to say, it was an accident, believe me.” 

“Like I believed that you wouldn’t tell him about this right?”

Louis racks his brain to find the right words to explain this, but he doesn’t want to pour out all of his feelings and insecurities on a party where there are people listening. 

“Harry, can we talk about this at home? I promise I’ll tell you everything.” 

He raises his hand to rest on Harry’s cheek but Harry just turns his head the other way. And Louis never knew that could hurt as much as it did. All he wants to do right now is bury himself in about ten layers of duvets and crawl into a corner. Harry shakes his head and takes a step back. With a lowered head he says: “I can’t. I can’t talk to you Louis, not now. Just- I’m going home.”

He watches Harry leaves and he’s unsettled about the fact that he is so used to watch him walk away. Just as Harry rounds the corner, Nick walks into the room and the fucker dares to wink at him. Louis walks up to him and hisses: “This is not over.” 

And then he walks away, trying to catch Harry. When he steps outside he sees their car drive off. By the time he’s convinced Liam and Zayn to leave early and drop him off he sees that his bed is empty and that the door of Harry’s bedroom is locked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't know who to pair Eleanor with? Any ideas? Not that she's gonna show up a lot but just in case. Let me know your thoughts and ideas.x


	11. The Revelation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I SAW THAT I HAVE LIKE 100 KUDOS. ERMAHGERD YOU GUUYYSSSS!!!!! I am so unbelievably fucking happy, like omygod. I am speechless. So let's just dive right into the new chapter.  
> The beginning of the chapter is the same as the end of last chapter but then from Harry's side. So you guys can see what Nick said exactly and shit.  
> Anyhow I hope you enjoy this chapter and uhm yeah, let me know what you think. Kay byyyyeeee MUCHOS LOVE xxx  
> P.s: Just a reminder that I actually do like Grimmy.

“Harry can I talk to you for a second?”

Really? Is this really happening right now? Why is this his life? Is the first thing that goes through Harry’s mind when Louis gets interrupted by a familiar voice. He kind of knows what Louis was planning on saying and he seriously wanted to hear it. He lets out a small sigh and turns to look at Nick, well he tries, seeing as Louis is still holding his cheek.

“Can’t it wait Nick?” Harry knows he’s being a bit curt and he loves his friend, he really does. But he’s _in_ love with Louis so excuse him for not being sorry.

“Not really, it’s kind of important.”

Damn Nick, and damn himself for being such a good friend Harry thinks. He turns to look at Louis to apologize but Louis is too quick. “It’s okay babe. Go. I’ll be right here waiting, okay?”

And if Harry ever dreamed about him and Louis being together, which he did but only a little bit, he never could have dreamed that it would be this good. So he leans down to give his husband (Louis is actually his husband, o my god) a peck. He follows Nick then but not without turning around to wink at Louis. When he winks back and blows him a kiss, Harry feels on top of the world. Until he turns back around and sees Nick looking at him with a hurt expression.

“What’s wrong Nick? Did something happen?”

“Not really, no. I just wanted to say that I completely understand why you chose Louis and not me. I mean we’re just friend and you’ve been in love with him for like ever and so I’m not mad about that. In fact I’m not mad at all, just a bit disappointed that I had to find out like this, you know?”

And no, Harry can honestly say that he doesn’t know what Nick is talking about. But he does know that he’s never seen Nick this down. Nick was always the cheery one and it was always Harry being a bit moody or grumpy.

“What are you talking about Nick?” “You know? You choosing Louis over me to marry. He told me. Well more like shoved it in my face.” Harry feels his blood run cold. “Louis? Louis told you about that?”

“He yelled it at me Harry. He came up to me and started saying things like how I should stay away from you because you’re his now. And that you don’t even like me and only put up with me until Louis took you back and how you choosing him over me, even though you guys hadn’t talked in six years, should be proof enough of that. I mean of course I don’t believe him about that but, Harry you could have told me that you had a choice. What’s the worst that could have happened?”

“But…That doesn’t sound like Louis at all. He would never say all of those things.”

“Where have you been all this time? Louis doesn’t like me.”

“No, I know that. But it’s always been mutual and that’s why he usually just stays away from you. Why would he…? I mean he wouldn’t just walk up to you and say all of those things?” Harry knows Louis wouldn’t just do that, because even though Louis is a lot of things, he isn’t by any needs unnecessarilymean. But then again Nick is his friend and no one else besides his mom knew that he had a choice.

“How would you know that Harry? You’ve been married to him for only two months. And need I remind you that before that you guys didn’t talk for six years. _Six years_ , Harry. Years that were full of you complaining and pining and sometimes there were tears involved because you couldn’t for the life of you understand why he wouldn’t talk to you.”

“I know that Nick.” Really, he does. He does not need someone to remind him of that, it was painful enough. Then all of a sudden he’s hit with a wave of anger. And he knows he needs to get out now before he is going to say things he’s gonna regret. He’s never been good at handling anger.“I just- I need to go.”

 

 

* * *

 

“Come on, please open the door. You can’t stay in there forever!” Louis knocks on the door again, for what feels like the hundredth time. Yet Harry still won’t open the door or even talk to Louis. It’s still early, but he knows Harry can’t possibly still be sleeping after all the noise he’s made, not even Zayn could sleep through that. So that only leaves the most obvious and painful option. And that is that Harry is ignoring him.

“Please open up so I can explain.” Louis drops his arms and leans his head against the door with a sigh. “Please, Haz.”

“You can explain like this. I can hear you loud and clear. No need to open the door.”

And Louis has never been the kind that takes the whole arm when offered a hand. So he turns around and sits on the ground with his back leaning on the door. When he hears a thud from inside the room he knows Harry is taking the same position, and really could this get anymore cliché? If they were in another situation he may have commented on this out loud but he knows Harry is pissed off enough as it is and Louis knows a second chance when it’s been given so he swallows down the comment and takes a deep breath.

“Look, I know how it looks okay?” He decides to ignore the snort coming from inside the room and continues. "I knew that when you told me about you choosing me that it was information that should only stay between the two of us. And our moms. And apparently Eleanor now too, but that’s a story for another time. Look what I’m trying to say is that it was never my intention to just tell people about it. Especially not Nick cause I know he’d be devastated, you know with his humongous crush on you and all. I may not like the lad but I’m not a cold-hearted bastard. Although I do admit being a pillock for telling him… even though he asked for it.”

Then all of a sudden Louis’ life flashes before his eyes as he falls backwards and his back hits the floor. He lets out a high-pitched squeal which he will later describe as nothing but a manly groan. He feels Harry’s feet close behind his head so he opens his eyes and is faced with Harry looking down at him. His curls hanging down his face and it takes everything in Louis not to pull at them.

“He asked for it? He didn’t even do anything. He said you suddenly walked up to him and told him that he needed to stay away from me and that I was using him until you decided I was good enough again and then you said that the fact that I chose him should be proof enough.”

Louis just stares up at Harry with his mouth wide open. He blinks he few times before he abruptly stands up and faces Harry, who takes a few steps back.

“He said _what_!? That lying twofaced son of a bitch..” Louis starts pacing in front of Harry, murmuring insults to himself. Then he stops right in front of Harry and says: “I should kill him for this. I really should.”

Before he can turn around he feels to hands on his shoulders stopping him from moving. “There is no killing happening. At least not until you tell me what’s going on. And then, maybe we can discuss the killing part.”

“What’s going on is that Nick is a fucking prat who needs to learn how to be a fucking decent human being. Look, what really happened was that he and I got into an argument the other night when we were with Zayn, Liam and Niall. Things were said-“

“What kind of things?” Harry interrupts his rant, looking at the shorter boy with raised eyebrows. Begging him to explain. “Nothing of importance.”

“Lou, I need to know, please. Just tell me the truth.” Harry’s big hands slide down his arms until they’re both holding one of Louis’. He intertwines their fingers and pulls Louis to his bed to sit on the edge. He looks at Louis with pleading eyes and how can Louis ever deny anything from him when he’s being like this. So with a big sigh he starts his story.

“Fine. So that night he went up looking for you to say goodbye. I went up after him cause I felt like it. He couldn’t find you in your room so I may or may not have called him an idiot.” When Louis sees Harry smile at this he knows he’s out of the doghouse and on the porch.

“Then we talked about how we didn’t like each other and then he said that the reason he’s such a dick to me is because he thinks I don’t deserve you.” Louis sees Harry frown at this but before the green-eyed boy gets the chance to talk Louis is already continuing. “And I know that Harry. God, I know that I don’t deserve you but then he had the nerve to say that he did deserve you and that is just not…I mean that is not just something you say because he doesn’t deserve you Harry. He’s a fucking asshole. But he got me so mad then that the words just came out. I don’t know why, maybe to shut him up or maybe I said it to annoy him or maybe I wanted him to know that even though I don’t deserve you I’m still the one you want. And that makes me sound like a possessive prick, but you are _my_ husband so I guess that justifies at least a little bit of my behaviour, doesn’t it?”

Louis takes a deep breath and sighs. Harry is completely silent, the only thing indicating he listened to Louis’ story is the fact that his hands are now clasping Louis’ tightly. Louis squeezes back and that seems to wake him up.

“He said you don’t deserve me?” Louis nods.

“And that he did deserve me?” Again all Louis does is nod.

“Why?”

“What do you mean why? The dude’s got a crush on you as big as the size of my ass.” Harry lets out a surprised snort at that and then lowers his head while shaking it. “I can’t believe this. Why didn’t you tell me before?”

“Because.” Harry looks back up and just stares at him. Green eyes piercing through blue ones. “Because I was scared. I was scared that you wouldn’t believe me or worse.” Here Harry raises on eyebrow, but he doesn’t speak. “That you’d believe Nick and realise that he was right and that you would be happier if you were with him instead of me.”

Harry releases one of Louis’ hands and cups his cheek with it. Pulling Louis closer to his own face. They both close their eyes and just enjoy being this close to each other. Even though it’s only been a few hours since they last touched each other they missed it. They rest their foreheads against each other and then Harry starts talking.

“How many times do I have to say it before it gets through that thick skull of yours. I’m in love with you."  

They both lean in and they kiss slowly but deep. Harry’s tongue exploring Louis’ mouth like it’s the first time. Louis’s free hand comes up and he rests it on Harry’s chest right on top of his heart. They break apart, just for Harry to say: “I’ve never been happier then now, with you.”

And then they’re right back at kissing each other. The hand Louis had resting on Harry’s chest lowers again and slips under Harry’s shirt to rest on his bare chest. He pushes Harry down, slowly but surely until he is completely lying on the bed with Louis on top of him. Louis frees his other hand, that was still holding onto Harry’s, to play with the hem of Harry’s shirt. He lifts it up and just as the shirt is about to go off they hear someone knock at the door.

“Uhm, mister and mister Tomlinson. Miss Calder is here to see you.” They stop kissing but don’t move otherwise, knowing the maid won’t enter the room unless she’s given permission to do so. So they’re completely not prepared to hear:

“Oh my god, no! I specifically told you to tell them misses Hurd is here.” And then the door flies open to reveal a tall brunette. Her smile slowly turning into a knowing grin when she sees both boys flailing around trying to look innocent.

“Oh don’t get all proper for me. You know how much I love to see two men going at it. Especially two hot men.”

“Yeah, I don’t think Max will appreciate that.” Louis says while fixing Harry’s fringe for him.

“Max? Psshht he is just as bad as me, if not worse. Anyway I did not come here to discuss two men in action, but to discuss two couples in action. Couples in action meaning you two and Max and I at a restaurant having dinner and getting to know each other. Also known as a double date. A double date that is happening now seeing as I’m having a good hair-day, I’m looking extra fit today and Max is already downstairs waiting. So get your horny asses out of this bedroom and meet me in the hall. And please, for the love of all things sacred, dress fancy.”

With that she’s out the door leaving no trace she was there to begin with. Both boys stare at each other waiting for one of them to break the sudden silence.

“Next time there’s a hurricane in England we’re naming it Eleanor.” Harry says while standing up and walking out the door to their closet. When Louis’ done laughing he walks up to Harry and wraps his arms around the taller boys waist from behind. “We totally should. You know what else we totally should do?”

“What?”

“We should break down these walls and make it one bedroom instead of two.” Harry turns around, but Louis keeps his arms around his waist so Harry wraps his arms around Louis’ neck.

“Then I won’t have any place to hide from you when I’m mad.” He says with a cheeky grin. Louis bumps his nose against Harry’s. “Curly boy thinks he’s funny. You could always hide in the bathroom.”

“Hmmm maybe.” Harry ducks his head and starts kissing Louis’ throat while the tan boy talks. “Is Eleanor being distractive an excuse?” Harry’s kisses still and Louis knows that he’s confused. “An excuse for what?”

“Just answer the question, Harry.”

“Uhm I guess it is.”

“Well then that’s my excuse for not saying that I’ve never been happier than with you too.” Harry lifts his head back up and smiles at Louis. Louis can’t help but get closer to him. “Also,” He gets even closer, they’re lips almost touching, “I love you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAWWWWW!!!! What a sweet sweet ending, I hope this euphoria will last. Also, I see you've noticed me taking your advice about the Max Hurd thang. They are adorable together. Seriously. Also, do you guys think Eleanor should show up more? Or is it enough like this. I mean I sort of have a girl crush on her, but yeah. Let me know what you think, comment here or message me on my tumblr (larryship-co-captain) xx


	12. The Awkward Triple Date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those of you who read Louis' Dare, I know I said I had half of the chapter and that I needed to write more. Well, to be honest I seriously could not write anymore. But I did promise to update a chapter. And it's like 1900 words, which is okay I guess. But I was planning on making it much longer. The thing is that I know where I want to go with this story but I cant seem to put it in words. Also, I have all these ideas in my head. I'm thinking about writing those out first and then coming back to this. But I'm not sure. PLEASE HELP ME...  
> Enough about me, I hope you enjoy this chapter.xx Feedback is always welcome!

“So then, the little bitch said something about my clothes. And nobody is going to talk smack about my wardrobe while wearing a dress that looks even worse than a potato sack. So I told her that if she didn’t leave that second I’d be giving her a red cheek and no I was not talking about blush.”

Louis’ laugh at that is nothing compare to Harry’s bark of laughter that makes the people around them turn back at them in shock. The younger man quickly covers his mouth with his hand to silence his laugh, but Louis thinks that they’re passed that. So he lifts his own hand and pulls Harry’s away from his mouth and shakes his head.

“Don’t do that. I love your laugh.”

Harry gently nods his head and lowers his hand, which is still in Louis’ tinier one. They intertwine their fingers and rest their hands on Louis’ thigh. They both look back to the couple sitting across the table and see Eleanor making fake gag noises.

“God if I knew you guys would be so cheesy and newlywed-y I wouldn’t have asked you along.”

“Asked us? I’m pretty sure there was no asking involved when you barged into our room and demanded we come along with you and Max. You should be thankful we came.”

“Oh please, the only reason you came is because you’re afraid of what I would retaliate with if you weren’t to come.”

“Is it really that bad?” Is what Harry replies with, being the only one not knowing how Eleanor can be. Before Louis can tell him about the time he found all of his hair products replaced with actual grease, Max is already talking.

“Oh trust me. She may look small and innocent but deep down inside she is a vicious animal seeking for the weak prey.”

“Such a romantic this one.” Says Eleanor while patting Max on the head. “How did I get so lucky to be married to a man who only speaks such kind words about me.”

Harry and Louis both snort at this. As Harry and Eleanor get into a discussion about which beach is better Louis thinks that he could be persuaded into more double dates if this is what they’re all like. He’s having a great time, even though Eleanor has probably told every embarrassing story about him there is. Maybe next time he and Harry can go on a double date with Liam and Zayn. He knows Harry and Zayn get along pretty well. Perhaps they could have a huge couples night, he thinks he would quite enjoy that. The more the merrier, right?

And Louis should really think twice before he says something like that again because when he tries to find a waiter to order he locks eyes with a pair of brown ones. Brown ones belonging to none other than Dick Grimshaw. Next to him is one of his many conquests. It’s not a secret that Nick is not the kind for a serious relationship, another reason why he got mad when Dick said Harry would be better with him. When he goes to look away from the one person Louis actually hates he sees that Nick is pointing to his table and the patron just nods and lets the pair through.

And there is no way in hell that dimwit would be so stupid to actually join their table, right? Louis would like to believe that he at least a part of his brain that is still functioning.

“Harry! And Harry’s friends. Fancy seeing you here.”

Louis thought wrong. And if the tone of Nick’s voice is anything to go by this is anything but a coincidence. Harry’s confusion just confirms that fact.

“Nick? I thought you said you were staying at home tonight?”

“I was, but then Logan here called me and we decided to go out. I always thought this was a nice place so, here we are. Would you mind if we joined you guys?”

Harry just shrugs his shoulders and looks at Louis, giving him the power to deny or accept the offer.  Louis just squeezes Harry’s hand and looks at Eleanor who is eyeing the exchange with suspicion. She then gives a slight nod to Louis and he knows she’s got his back.

“Yeah, sure. We’re all adults here.” He says while giving Nick a pointed look. Nick just ignores him and goes to a waiter asking for two extra chairs. When the freakishly tall lad sits down he just smiles at Louis and then turns to look at Harry.

“So, Harry. What have you been up to?”

“Uhm, nothing really. Me and Louis stayed indoors the whole day until Eleanor came and asked us along.”

“Oh, I see. So you’re Eleanor Calder right?” Nick says and looks at El, who just stares back at him with a raised eyebrow while sipping her drink from a straw. Nick just continues, “That means that you’re Max Hurd.” 

Thank God for Max and Harry, because if they weren’t there the table would have frozen over from all the tension. “Yes that’s me. You’re Nick Grimshaw and I’m sorry but I don’t seem to recognize you.”

Damn Max and his appropriate behaviour. Louis would have liked it if they would just ignore Nick and his date of the week.  “This is Logan Dubois. He doesn’t really speak English that well. He’s from France.”

“Really? Oh I would have never figured that out on my own, thank you so much. I envy your intelligence.”

In the corner of his eye Louis sees that Harry is biting his cheeks to keep from laughing at Eleanor’s comment. Louis on the other hand doesn’t see why he should be holding back anything. So he just lets out a loud laugh which in turn makes Harry laugh out loud too. Nick just smiles at them and Louis would be jealous of his restraint if he didn’t notice that it was an all fake smile.

Each couple turns to each other and have their own conversations, until their food arrives and Louis sees that Nick is up to something. He is proven right when Nick clears his throat and says:

“So Louis, I never really understood what happened between you and that Bryant guy. I mean as far as looks go, he was quite high up the ladder. No, wait a minute I’m thinking about Johnny. It’s all so confusing I mean you did date quite a few amount of men.”

Louis wishes he could say that it wasn’t working. That his blood isn’t starting to boil. But his denial flies out of the window the second he feels Harry tense next to him. He knows that he needs to choose his next words carefully. So he goes with:

“That was all in the past. I’m married now, quite happily if I may add. Whatever guy I used to or used to not date means nothing to me. But then again, I’m sure a guy like you wouldn’t know what I’m talking about.”

He knows he said the right thing when Harry relaxes again and squeezes Louis’ smaller hand. He thinks about just bailing on this whole gig. Harry wouldn’t mind and Eleanor really is that good of a friend to stay behind with Nick and his French date. He locks eyes with Eleanor and hopes she understands the underlying meaning of his look and knows what he’s asking. 

“And what exactly do you mean by a guy like _me_.”

“For God’s sake, he means a non-married man like yourself. Don’t try and pick fights out of non-threatening comments. Anyways, Louis didn’t you say that you had to meet your mom? I think you should go if you want to make it on time.”

Louis makes a mental note to buy something amazing for her, because she really is a one of a kind friend.  He knows Harry is about to ask some question, so he quickly silences him with a look and stands up.“My God, I completely forgot. Thank you for reminding me. I had a great time and we should do this again sometime soon. Sorry we couldn’t stay for dessert.”

“We? Harry can stay right? He doesn’t have to follow you around everywhere, does he?”

Louis would really _really_ like to just punch this twat in the face and walk away. But he can already hear his mom talk about how that’s irresponsible and how he should have known better and he really shouldn’t lower himself to violence. He really just isn’t in the mood. And he figures that what if Harry does want to stay. Nick _is_ Harry’s friend, as much as Louis tries to suppress that. So through gritted teeth he says: “No, he doesn’t. Harry would you like to stay?”

Harry just looks between him and Nick and Louis just does not know what is going on in that head of his. For all he knows he can say that he doesn’t want either. Because Louis is wise enough to know that the behaviour he and Nick have been showing is kind of juvenile.

“I think I’m just gonna go with Louis. I mean it is my mother in law.”

Letting out a sigh Louis didn’t know he’d been holding, he pulls Harry up with the hand that is still tightly wrapped in the larger pale one of his husband. But then Nick stands up too and hugs Harry even though it’s not necessary.

Nick looks over Harry’s shoulder to lock eyes with Louis and then slowly lowers his hand. Just when it’s about to rest on the small of Harry’s back, Harry pulls back and ruffles Nick’s hair.

“It was great to see you, Grimmy. Call me, yeah?”

“Sure thing, hot stuff.”

 

* * *

 

When the car comes to a stop right at their front door Harry turns to Louis.

“I know you don’t like Nick and I know you don’t like it when I spend time with him, but he’s my friend Louis a very good one. I mean he got me through some stuff that I wouldn’t have been able to handle on my own. And even though it sucks that you guys don’t get along I’m not going to stop hanging out with him and I hope you can understand that.”

He gets out of the car then, leaving behind a stunned looking Louis. He always knew Harry was pretty close with Nick, but he never knew to what extent. He quickly opens his door and runs to Harry who is just up the steps and on the porch.

“Wait, Haz. I know, okay. He is a close friend and of course I can understand that. I would never forbid you or something to hang out with someone, just like you won’t forbid me to hang out with Eleanor even though you know we have a history. I just, I guess I’m just a bit apprehensive because he is so in love with you.” Harry tries to interrupt him but he knows what he’s going to say. “I know, and I do trust you, I really do. But it’s him I don’t trust. You saw what he did back at the restaurant. He was trying to rile me up. But I promise you that I will never ever tell you not to hang out with him, okay?”

Harry just nods his head and leans down to give Louis a slow peck on the lips. “I believe you.”

 

 Come visit me on my [tumblr](http://larryship-co-captain.tumblr.com/), it's a magical place full of lovely things........ 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no idea if there is a real Logan Dubois, so any resemblance is completely unintentional


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GUESS WHO'S BACK?? BACK AGAIN!! So yeah, sorry I haven't been updating, blame it on the Sterek. No but I just had serious writers block buuut thank god for EchoedCreativity and her awareness. So this chapter is for you, love. I hope it's not disappointing xx

"You know there's just one thing I don't quite understand." Louis says while walking to his side of the bed. Harry, who's lying in bed, sits up on his elbows and follows Louis with his eyes. "What is it?"

  
"Well, when Nick told you all the thing I said to him you got so fucking pissed you left and you wouldn't talk to me. I mean, we got into a pretty big fight over it."

  
"I said I was sorry." Harry says with pink cheeks. Louis lifts the covers on his side and steps in bed, leaning against the headrest. 

"No, I know. It's just.."

  
"Just what?"

  
"I don't understand why you got so pissed off at me, but Nick gets off the hook so easily."

  
At this Harry sits up completely and sits next to Louis, shoulders brushing. "He's not off the hook, trust me. It's just that..well I can't very well start shouting at him in a restaurant. I mean this is not my kingdom I know, but I am married to you and you do have a reputation to uphold. What would the people say when they find out you married a dramaqueen who shouts at friends in public."    
The last part is said with an amused tone, that Louis is very grateful for. He's never been good with serious talks. He raises one eyebrow and turns to look at Harry. "They would probably think I've gone mad for keeping you around."

  
Harry barks out a laugh at that and Louis can do nothing but stare at him and feel as if he's in a cheesy feel-good movie. "Mad with love, maybe?" Harry says, when he's finished laughing. 

  
This time it's Louis who can't keep his laugh in. When he looks back at Harry he's faced with two giant green eyes, waiting for an answer. He sits up on his knees, throws one leg over Harry and wraps his arms around his neck. "Absolutely bonkers with love, sweetums." Harry just nods his head and closes the gap between their lips. 

 

 

* * *

"Well maybe if you'd have told me the entire story instead of just your side I wouldn't be yelling at you. But the fact remains that you lied to me. And I honestly don't understand why you'd do it."  

Louis knows he should leave Harry and Nick talk in private, but he honestly couldn't care less. So he just shifts a bit on the couch and focuses back on Nick and Harry. Who are standing opposite of each other, talking loudly and really, all he needs is a bowl of popcorn. 

"Don't tell me you believe him", Nick yells back while pointing accusingly to Louis,"Need I remind you that he left you like you were some piece of trash. Oh let me rephrase that, recyclable trash seeing as your back to how it was before. Believe me Harry, he hasn't changed. And he'll just pull the same shit." 

Before Louis has the chance to object to that statement Harry is talking. "That has never been your business nor will it ever be. Why are you so against this? It's not just now. You've been like this ever since I told you about me marrying Lou. I'm happy Nick, I'd have thought my friend would feel the same." 

Nick just crosses his arms over his chest. "Well I'm not." 

"I can see that. What I don't see is why? Why can't you be happy for me?" 

"Because I'm in fucking love with you, you bloody daft idiot." 

An eery silence is what follows Nick's confession. Harry's hand that were gesturing wildly when he was speaking drop to his sides and his eyes are as wide as the eyes of a kid caught stealing from the cookie jar. 

Louis has never been good at coping with awkward silences, but he knows where his input is not needed so he stays quiet and looks from Harry's surprised face to Nick's horrified face. As if he can't believe he just confessed his love. 

"You...You're in love? With me?" Louis makes a mental note to ask Harry about that disbelieving tone of his, because who wouldn't fall in love with the curly-haired preciousness. He sees Nick swallows what has to be the biggest lump ever. And then he shakes his head and puts up a false bravado. Trust Louis to know what false bravado looks like. 

"Yes I am. God, how did you not notice it all these years?" 

"A-All these years? How long have you been feeling like this?" 

"Christ I don't know, Harry. Since I met you?" Louis never thought there would be a day where he could sympathise with Dick Grimshaw. But he understands, cause he's been there too. He thinks there are more people who've been there. 

"Why didn't you ever say anything?" 

Now Nick just looks frustrated. "I tried. So many goddamn times. But you just wouldn't listen, you had one thing and one thing only on your mind and that was Louis. And I just kept telling myself, that you'd get over him but you kept on hoping and I just didn't want to settle for second best. So I decided to wait and now I'm too late. Not that it would have mattered anyway." 

Louis isn't sure if he and Harry were supposed to hear that last part, so Harry just asks: "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that even if I'd have told you about this before this marriage you still would have rejected me wouldn't you?"

 

And Harry wouldn't be Harry if he didn't look laced with guilt and sympathy. "I'm sorry, Nick. I wish I could tell you otherwise." 

 

"No you don't. I understand. Louis is what you've always wanted. Your heart will always be his." 

 

Louis is caught between rolling his eyes and grinning smugly. "I really am sorry, if there's anything I can do. Just let me know, okay?" 

 

"Yeah I'm just", Nick's voice breaks," I'm gonna go now."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For questions or if you just wanna talk, come to my tumblr larryship-co-captain.tumblr.com


End file.
